Real Beauty

All of us young adults have insecurities that we have had to deal with since around the time we hit puberty and in some cases maybe even younger. Media has specified a certain image as to what we are supposed to look like, and if we look any different than this image we are not considered beautiful. The typical image for a woman is supposed to be tall, thin and media's version of beautiful, and preferrably white and blonde. Well in reality, the majority of women do not fit in this category. I believe that all people should feel comfortable in their own skin. I relate to this video because this is how I used to feel about myself, and I am sure most of you have felt the same. It's normal to feel insecure in the modern society because of this image produced by media that we are supposed to fulfill. Some men and women alike think that if they do not fit this image they are not handsome or beautiful. Sometimes people even go to extremes and take diet pills or have some sort of surgery to move towards looking like this image. The people who created this "perfect" image do not even look like this ideal image. I am tired of looking through magazines and the women used in advertising, the models, are all thin and close to this ideal image. Average people buy the products being advertised so I personally would rather see people like myself, advertising the product. These ideal images about what we are supposed to look like is absurd, and teaches younger generations that they need to strive to look as close as possible to this ideal image, making normal people feel insecure about their features.

The other side to this commercial is that Dove's name is attached to this campaign for beauty commercial. The Dove company is establishing a common ground for normal people such as myself by identifying with something such as insecurity that people who are going to be buying the product can relate to. They are targeting audiences of younger and older generations whom will be purchasing Dove's products. Another issue with these commercials are its almost as if white women are more beautiful and more superior to minorities because the commercials are predominately white women with the exception of a few minority women.

I would suggest that media should strive to break down the level of insecurities men and women have about themselves. They can advertise more about being comfortable in your own skin and being happy with oneself as a person, such as Dove with the exception of broadening the image of self acceptance, more specifically with cultural differences and including a wide variety of ethnicities. Our country has been about this self image for so long that people almost feel like this "perfect" image is normal. Most celebrities who younger generations look up to also try and reflect this ideal image. However, some celebrities now more than ever are trying to advocate self acceptance such as Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is not easily accepted in the world of celebrities, saying that she feels that she should be more connected with her fans and letting them know it's ok to be who you are naturally. She has built her whole career off of self acceptance and trying to "break" the ideal image that media has created for beauty. I used Lady Gaga because she is a true example of beauty that relates to the message that the Dove commercial is conveying. Even though she happens to be blond headed,white,thin and beautiful she is not the normal beautiful that media always portrays.She wants people to feel comfortable in their own skin, no matter what their shape or size, however, with her fitting the stereotypical model it is difficult to look at her and then accept ourselves for the way we are, like she says to do because she just so happens to fit the stereotype of media's version of beauty. She tells everyone to be who you are no matter how weird or who that person is and no matter how genuine her intentions are in her heart for wanting everyone to feel beautiful, a person looks at her and sees behind the different clothes and make up she is a person who media would consider beautiful.

The dove commercials mostly use younger girls. They picked this generation not because those are the people purchasing the product but because a lot of young adults as well as parents who sympathize with this young generation. They see the young girls feeling bad about their self image and they want to strive to change this image into a more realistic one, so they are more likely to buy a few of Dove's products to help with the campaign for beauty. The young girls represent innocence so it makes people feel like it is up to them to help change the minds of the innocent before they are exposed to media's way of thinking about beauty and self expression.

The campaign for beauty dove commercials are just one of many examples of how media is changing self image and ones way of perceiving oneself. Dove's commercials tend to try and convey a certain message but at the end they fail in doing so by leaving out women who fall into minority groups. The issue of insecurity is becoming more of a problem with our society today, but people ,such as Lady Gaga, are beginning to notice and take steps towards fixing this social issue and telling younger generations that it is ok to be yourself. If only the beauty for campaign Dove commercials could make more commercials that include different diversities of women.