This problem is a hard one to fix because it involves changing ideas that have been driven into the minds of society for many years. How do you change everybody’s idea of what beauty is? We may actually be moving in the right direction. One positive step being taken is Dove’s new “Campaign for Beauty”. The campaign stresses accentuating each woman’s individual beauty, rather than conforming to the stereotypical image of beauty.


"For too long beauty has been defined by narrow stifling stereotypes. You’ve told us it’s time to change all that. We agree. Because we realize beauty comes in many shapes, sizes and ages. It is why we started the Campaign for Real Beauty. And we hope you’ll take part" (Campaign). This is what you first see on the screen when you log onto Dove’s Campaign for Beauty site. The website features articles about healthy body images, realistic facts and figures, and ways to help end this stereotypical cycle. It also offers ways to improve your own self-esteem and the self-esteem of others around you.


Dove first realized this issue needed to be addressed when they set out across ten countries to survey 5,000 women. They found that 75% of them thought of their body as average. Half of them thought they weighed too much. Finally, only a miniscule 2% considered themselves beautiful. It was clear something had to be done (Dove).


Dove has sponsored two major campaigns for this project. One was advertising a shampoo, which featured a group of 500 women wearing blonde wigs. After first viewing this commercial, something I did not realize was that these were real women who Dove challenged to actually wear the stereotypically desirable long blonde wig for an entire day. By the end of the day, the women realized that they were happy to have their own hair back. It sets them apart as an individual, rather than just blending in with the crowd. In the commercial, this was depicted by the women throwing their wigs off and celebrating their own unique hairstyles (Inside).


Another one was advertising a firming body lotion. It featured six women of all different skin colors and sizes, all of which felt very comfortable with their curves. The ad accentuated that “real women have real curves” and encouraged women to celebrate their own unique bodies (Real). These new tactics that Dove used to advertise show that there are alternative ways to sell their products. It is not necessary to use the “skinny model equals youth and immortality” idea. Their campaigns also point out that you do not need to make the public feel bad about themselves in order to sell products. In fact, making them feel good about themselves may actually have the better effect.

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Dove goes beyond advertising with their self-esteem fund. They sponsor a program called “Uniquely Me” which focuses on fostering self-esteem in girls ages 8-14. It includes teaching the girls about health and unique beauty. It helps them learn how to build self-esteem, especially through inspirational speakers the girls may look up to like Olympic Gold Medalist, Dominique Dawes (Uniquely). If all girls were educated about self- esteem and real beauty at this age, wouldn’t the number of eating disorders and rates of bodily dissatisfaction in girls drastically decrease? There’s only one way to find out.


Considering that the number of eating disorder incidents has doubled in the past 40 years, what is going to happen in the next 40 years? The numbers are only more likely to continue to grow unless something is done. Small steps taken by companies such as Dove will certainly help decrease eating disorders. Of course, it will take time for society to adjust to these changes. The move away from the skinny blonde image as the only form of beauty will start off slow but hopefully will gradually become more large scale. If Dove spends this much effort to take a step in the right direction, can’t other businesses and industries follow? If it concerns the mental and physical health of our children, shouldn’t it be a first priority? Hopefully America will realize this. Deteriorating that one set standard of beauty will make girls to feel more comfortable with their bodies and stop girls from driving themselves to starvation just to become “beautiful”.


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