Dove what is beauty

Unilever was one of the earliest to adopt corporate sustainability into its business model, and the often tearjerker Real Beauty ads were backed by lots of action to improve the self-esteem of women everywhere. Dove bars became the number one preferred soap brand in the U.

Specifically, in October , Dove released a three-second body wash ad on Facebook. The ad featured a diverse trio of women individually lifting their shirts to transition into one another: a black woman pulled up her shirt to reveal a white woman, who then unveiled an Asian woman.

Depicting a black woman transforming to white through soap was an unwitting nod to an ugly theme of 19th century advertising when blatantly racist messages suggested "dirty" people of color could be purified to white with soap. Unsurprisingly, the ad swiftly incited a wave of criticism across social media denouncing Dove for racism.

Global headlines in top-tier traditional media outlets followed. Where did Dove go wrong? For us, the most salient issues were the enduring failure to act and listen when consumers tried to have a conversation with Dove.

In each instance, individuals called out the brand and asked for answers. But instead of welcoming the opportunity for dialogue and reflection, Dove tried to diminish those concerns and excuse its own actions. In , Dove denied any wrongdoing or intent to cause offense, and in , the company attributed its mistake to a production oversight. Together, these response strategies signaled a focus on minimizing responsibility and scapegoating rather than listening to the public.

For purpose-driven brands like Dove, success is largely based on the strength of their consumers relationships. Key to those bonds is moving beyond a transactional approach and investing in efforts to listen. It is not our intention to take a stand one way or another on the value of the campaign. Rather, our purpose has been to examine the campaign from different angles and to encourage consumers to do the same — not just with Dove, but with any advertising campaign.

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Then, reading through their article, I expanded my thoughts and feelings toward the ad campaign.