Powerful Stuff! Thank you for sharing. I am sharing with my nieces.

Lewis

Ditto to Lewis' comment. I have already e-mailed this off to the mothers of my 9 and 10 year old nieces - lovely little girls who are already in that age group where obsession with unattainable standards of "beauty" are taking hold. I've been explaining to them for years that nobody looks like that in "real life" without, as the ad shows, a good deal of assistance. (I'm now going to go out and buy some Dove.)

Andrea,

Definitely agree with you. It raises the bar and demonstrates how a brand can consider people (not to say consumers) in a new intelligent way. I think the whole campaign makes a stunning case-story. Unexpected, yet smart positioning comes from: observing reality, listening to consumers POV's, guts to go against the wind, innovate (in terms of tone of voice), lead.

Now if we take a look at the Dove "self-esteem" and "campaign for real beauty", it seems clear that Dove wants to spread the news around the globe. Nevertheless, there is indeed a difference between European home page styles and other countries. For example, try www.dove.com, then www.dove.ca (Canada), and finally www.dove.co.uk (United Kingdom). Quite interesting, isn't it?

Personally, I think the "campaign for real beauty" is a brilliant idea.

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.co.uk/

This is a great video.... very powerful stuff. On the way hand, it offers nothing we haven't read about before, but interestingly, delivers it as a very powerful, immediate, to-the-gut punch.

I sent a response earlier that was not posted. I love this piece. I used to be a model and I have ever since hated my appearance. I have had issues my whole life about the way I look. This is good advertising no matter how jaded anyone out there is. Women like myself measure themselves by the unatainable projection of beauty by the media. I don't care if you are a self confident rock. Women are killing themselves to be thin, to be perfect. It is wrong and I believe the intended message is clear. Women of all shapes, sizes, colors,ethnicities and faces are beautiful.

Thanks Andrea, I've been glued to this video all week. In the era of "show not tell", it's really hitting many hot buttons.

Dove and many others have raised some issues that I've been grappling with as marketer for some time--and I'll post on it next week here at the Fix.

Thanks again for spreading Dove's message, it merits much attention.

Well, at least we know the MP community is on top of things! So glad you all have been struck by this effort as well. And, I'd love to re-iterate the suggestions of "mindblob"...check out the Canadian and UK Dove sites. When I first started checking into the Campaign for Real Beauty - it was the UK and Canadian efforts that most resonated with me. When you visit the dove.ca and dove.co.uk sites you see quite different, more image/story based presentations that draw you in much more effectively (I think). The other thing is that those sites seem much more integrated with the Campaign For Real Beauty than the U.S. site - where the viewer has to work harder to find the Campaign connection. VERY interesting to see the different approaches. I vote for the other two, hands down. Thanks for all the great comments!

I blogged about this one too and can't stop telling people about it. As a father of a three year old girl, I can only hope that Dove's approach becomes more and more common - or that my daughter, being a true digital native, develops a highly sophisticated filter for screening out unwanted media and advertising messages.

http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/index.php
This is Amy Jussel's Shaping Youth
blog which goes with your blog & comments. Thanks for making this more real.
Kathy Smith Productions

This is the best national advertising I've seen in a long time. Talk about connecting with your customer...Kudos to Dove and kudos to you, Andrea, spreading the word.