Dove has been doing some great things - in their ads and their quest to allow normal people feel that they are of worth.
Their ads are and have been great:
But this was some pretty interesting information from a study that they recently did:
The Dove Self-Esteem Fund recently commissioned a study titled Real Girls, Real Pressure: A National Report on the State of Self-Esteem. It examined 8- to 17-year-olds' attitudes toward themselves and found that 70% of those surveyed felt that they do not measure up when it comes to looks, scholastic performance and/or relationships. The study also found significant correlations between low self-esteem and a variety of harmful behaviors. Of those who felt badly about themselves, 25% said that they practiced self-injury, such as cutting (compared to just 4% of those who reported high self-esteem). Likewise, 25% of girls with a low estimate of themselves suffered eating disorders such as anorexia, bulimia or binge eating (compared to 7% of those with high self-esteem). Those struggling with their self-image were also more likely to engage in smoking, drinking and bullying. [PRNewswire, 10/7/08]
This is especially relevant to me as I have a young daughter getting ready to face the world. How does one help her navigate this culture without getting 'burned'?
2 comments:
Hey, been lurking for a while, but thought I'd finally jump in and talk with this post. While I love the message of the Dove spots, I have to question it as just another marketing ploy. Kinda the anti-marketing marketing strategy.
Unilever is the parent company of Dove and Axe. On one hand they come off as though we have to uplift women and girls to have safe healthy self body images. Which is great and wonderful. I'm all for that.
But then you have ads for teen and young adult men basicly saying that wearing a certain body spray, deoderent, etc will make women rip off thier clothes and grind their bodies on you.
So while on it's own, the Dove ads get the thumbs up. But Unilever as a whole is so hypocrital. I don't expect less from a large corp, but I realize that people may be making buying descisions thinking that a company may be good not knowing that it's just a public face they put on.
Gunnar - You raise good points. I think that at some level Dove's approach is a marketing ploy. The thing is that they are marketing something that others in their space are not - and that is what really gets me excited. It is annoying and frustrating to see the 'parent company' talking out of both sides of their mouth depending on the product line though.
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