December 23, 2013
Is Dove Really Showing Real Women?
I applaud Dove for being one of the first companies to push back against the unrealistic expectations for women in advertising. Their Campaign for Real Beauty features women that are not the typical 5'10"115 pound supermodel type. Instead the women in the Real Beauty ads were what could be sedcribed as short and stocky compared to what we normally see. I'm guessing these women average around 5'6 and 130-150 pounds. But, do they really represent real women?
These women are all still smooth bellied, cellulite free, and able to rock a two piece like nobody's business. There's not a tummy or back roll to be found on any of them. Let's face it, a lot of American women look like this:
According to the CDC, the average American woman is 5'3" and 166 pounds. However, there are many women who are above that 166 pound mark. When will they be represented in popular media? We may have Melissa McCarthy and a few other actresses on TV that are on the other end of the spectrum, but these handful of women do not proportionally represent the number of women with that body type in every day life.
There is another side of this question though. If we saw real women in advertisements, would we buy? Do we want to see real women as fashion models? Are we ready to get really real?
These women are all still smooth bellied, cellulite free, and able to rock a two piece like nobody's business. There's not a tummy or back roll to be found on any of them. Let's face it, a lot of American women look like this:
According to the CDC, the average American woman is 5'3" and 166 pounds. However, there are many women who are above that 166 pound mark. When will they be represented in popular media? We may have Melissa McCarthy and a few other actresses on TV that are on the other end of the spectrum, but these handful of women do not proportionally represent the number of women with that body type in every day life.
There is another side of this question though. If we saw real women in advertisements, would we buy? Do we want to see real women as fashion models? Are we ready to get really real?