Advertising Critique: Dove real beauty campaign

Each woman is at the climactic point of what appears to be spontaneous joy . Each seems confident , but a little surprised that her picture is being taken . strike the poses typical of magazine models , their postures lacking the uprightness of the typical fashion waif . But the poses of a few are clearly ironic . The third woman from the right boldly rests her hand on an out-thrust hip as if to say "I 'm pretending to be a model " In this sense , the women seem unnatural posed in a calculated send-up of typical advertisements

p There is also an obvious tension between the models ' nonchalant asexual expressions and the fact that they are in very skimpy attire If a few of the models can be said to be wearing "come hither " looks they are doing so only with a ironic smile , with their eyes seeming to be laughing . It is Dove 's attempt at de-sexualizing the nude , or the near-nude , as it were . It is a calculation designed to reframe cellulite cream not as a product used to appeal to the opposite sex , but to appeal to oneself alone . The image is asking its viewer to internalize notions of beauty in a deeper , more self-centered way than those with unrealistic depictions of feminine beauty . The fact that the image plays out on a two-dimensional plane seems to suggest that there is of the typical marketing trickery going on here , that the viewer need not look too deeply . These are just women being themselves , not selling cellulite cream . The clinical white used in the images is also meant to evoke this no-nonsense reality . Perhaps the Dove ads are most effective in getting the women in their target audience to let down their guards . With her unattainable beauty , the typical fashion magazine model evokes...