on to the whole ‘But Dove is evil too!’ argument – I take the stand that while they may be owned by the same company as slimfast, someone, somewhere in that advertising campaign CARES. Look at the self-esteem website, look at all of the information they have on there, someone has put their heart into this and its not just for the brand. It goes beyond selling the products, and for whatever reason Dove likes this angle (what else is left to be innovative with in advertising other than to go against the trend?), the people they employed to do this know their stuff and are genuine.

Other than that, I buy products that are a good balance between price and suitability for my skin. Dove falls into that category more than most.

We in the west have nothing like the pressure to look ‘right’ that abounds in Asia. The Japanese have a CANDY that is supposed to grow you bigger breasts, (and because of a ‘traditional-culture’ ethnic minority, their age of consent is TWELVE), and skin lightening is their single biggest beauty categorie.
I once had a ten year old Korean girl say to me,
“I like Britney Spears, she a-chubby like me”. This was back in the days of Britney’s ‘unreasonable expectation for tween girls’ size, and she still wasn’t thin enough for Asia. Imagine a ‘python’ Britney as the most size-positive image you ever saw.

It scares me to say this, but we might have it easy.

I agree, Lavalady — and ditto Lauredhel. I’m glad you two (and others) are here bringing up these points so other people can see what Dove and Unilever are all about.

But philosophically, I’m more in line with BuffPuff:

I’m also willing to bet pretty much every other company that makes shampoos, soap and deodorant is, somewhere along the line, involved in the manufacture of something I don’t believe in or approve of.

And the thing is, while I support the idea of “ditching the unnecessary stuff” and finding a woman-owned local soap maker, I’m just not going to do it any time soon. I make ethical compromises all the time with what I buy, because it takes quite a bit of effort not to. (I make some effort, but not what would fully be required to ease my conscience.)

Also, there’s a class issue to consider here. I’m not saying this is MY excuse (although actually, I don’t use any Dove products anyway), but Dove is a relatively affordable drugstore brand here. The only other beauty company I can think of putting out any body positive messages is The Body Shop — and although their corporate practices are MUCH better than Dove’s*, their products are also about 3 times as expensive, and much less readily available. The price point and ready availability are, of course, partly a function of hideous corporate practices. But if I can only afford/get my hands on Dove, Suave, or Herbal Essences, I’m going with Dove, because at least their commercials don’t make me want to vomit.

The anti-video argument I’ve found most compelling so far is the point that this one shifts the responsibility for combating those images away from the beauty industry (i.e., Dove) and onto parents (i.e., mothers). I think we all know how much I love the concept of “personal responsibility” when it’s used as a weapon.

BUT.

1) In terms of the images in question, Dove’s doing a much better job than most of its competitors. That is FAINT praise, let me tell you. But it is a truth I think is worth acknowledging.

2) As we saw here, there is something to be said for exhortations to talk to your kids about the cultural pressure to look a certain way. And since the average consumer is probably not as conscious of how insidious these sorts of images are as, say, a bunch of feminists who believe in fat acceptance, I do think the video is powerful.

I’ve been hearing again and again since I started the BMI project, “Wow, I just never realized…” And I’ve heard from loads of women that they feel so much better looking at the stream, because they see people with identical stats to theirs and think, “Hey, she looks good! Why don’t I think I look good? And come to think of it, everybody here looks good” — even though, with two exceptions that I know of, the people in the stream are sure not models.

As I think we all know, it’s really fucking hard even for savvy feminist women to get out from under the power of all those images, just because they’re EVERYWHERE. And a whole lot of people haven’t really given that much thought — a whole lot of people still make the argument that the beauty industry can’t be blamed for women feeling… exactly the way the beauty industry wants them to feel. This video explains what the fuck feminists are talking about where that’s concerned in 30 seconds. I love it for that.

*Note: when I wrote my tribute to Anita Roddick, a whole bunch of people chimed in to tell me the Body Shop is actually evil because of X, Y, and Z. Like I said, buying pretty much any mass-produced product without compromising your integrity somehow is difficult, if not impossible.

Actually, Godless Heathen, there’s nothing to subtitle, except the song (“La Breeze,” by Simian) that goes over it.

The lyrics “Here it comes” are repeated at the beginning of the video, and then the music picks up when the ad images start.

Other than that (which, granted, has an impact), the ad is entirely visual.