Latest Dove film…
By Jess McCabe | 8 January 2009, 22:23
It’s called ‘Intuition’.
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Feeds
Lauren O said:
When it started, it seemed like it was going to be an excoriation of catty women for judging each other's looks negatively ("she looks like a mouse," "that face says, 'I'll do anything you want me to do,'" etc.), but it had gotten nice and cute by the end. The last woman brought a bit of a tear to my eye, I must admit.
Posted on 09 January 2009 at 1:02 AM
dirt said:
This is fantastic. Thank you for sharing it!
Posted on 09 January 2009 at 1:34 AM
Amity said:
"She looks divorced??" I wasn't aware that it was possible to physically resemble your marital status. I guess all wild-haired women are divorced and those with shiny, straight hair are married.
Posted on 09 January 2009 at 1:22 PM
maggie said:
What lovely people.
Posted on 09 January 2009 at 7:03 PM
Chrissy said:
woah...did a Dove advert just make me cry?! Uh-Huh!
Posted on 09 January 2009 at 7:12 PM
Ruth Moss said:
I'm never really that happy with any of the Dove adverts.
I always feel like they're really hypocritical. One one hand, they talk about how beauty is a lot wider than the narrow cultural definition we give it. And on the other hand, they sell body-firming creams, they're owned by the same company that sells Lynx, and they never showcase any women that are (culturally speaking) that "ugly". Even the larger women are - at most - about a UK size 16, which is average.
I think I could take their adverts a lot more seriously if they only sold basics (like soap, shampoo, maybe moisturiser and deodorant) and if they were independent, not owned by the same company that owns other brands with such sexist advertising.
I kind of like this idea that they are opening the very narrow spectrum of "beauty" that our culture has. But on the other hand, why do we need to be "beautiful" anyway? (If that makes sense.)
Posted on 09 January 2009 at 8:17 PM
Anne Onne said:
Lauren O, I had the same feeling. I was like 'OK, yet more women told to judge each other blah blah blah...' but I like how it got better as it went along. Sometimes it's nice to see something that shows a little of the good that people can be, rather than the negative catty, self-obsessed image we get fed of ourselves.
Beauty is an interesting concept. On one hand, I'd be nice to eradicate the need for us to hang so much importance on outward appearance, the idea that people need to be beautiful (like Ruth Moss says). But I kind of see widening the beauty standards as a way of achieving this, because it's decreasing the importance of ascribing to a set appearance one step at a time. We can't eliminate attraction, or people making inferences from another person's appearance or behaviour, but we can try and encourage people to be tolerant, open-minded and careful of placing too much importance on first impressions, and see where that takes us.
Yes, I don't trust Dove one iota in that I'm sure that the ads are a product of the media climate and a few designers thinking they're clever, but even if they're not a sincere move, it's still a step forward. It's not enough by itself, but if a little thing like this starts people thinking (my first exposure to feminism was through such mainstream things) it could be a good thing.
On the unconventionally attractive front: I'd respect them a lot more if they involved more disabled women, women with visible scarring, women of different weights and shades.
Anyone seen those adverts with people with facial scarring? (I saw them on the tube, they could be other places, too)... They're really a good example of getting images of people who are 'different' out there, and encouraging people to confront their discomfort with disabilities and unconventional appearance.
Posted on 10 January 2009 at 7:41 PM
Chloe said:
hello everyone, I'm actually in this film (The "interesting" eyebrows - that's me) and I really love the outcome. Filming it was incredibly surreal, as we didn't meet any of the women we commented on, and all we saw was a 1 minute "living portrait" of them on the video screen. It was hard to begin with, but got more entertaining as it went along. We were asked to be as honest as possible, and I think everyone was. Lauren O - my comment that she looked like a mouse wasn't catty - mice are CUTE :D Great fun taking part, great idea!
Posted on 13 January 2009 at 11:11 AM