I thought I would mix up my posts a little bit today and discuss something that’s been making the rounds on social media lately. I’m sure by now you’ve all seen the video Dove came out with recently featuring a video about Beauty Patches. Here’s an article from Forbes that shows the video and provides some interesting viewpoints.
Here was the premise, according to an article from Marketplace.org: “In Dove’s latest advertisement, “Patches,” a scientist prescribes a “beauty patch” to women suffering from low self esteem. Over the course of four minutes, the patch-wearing “patients” move from lines like “If I were more confident, I’d have the confidence to approach a guy, maybe,” to “I’ve definitely opened up something inside of me to make me feel more… great.”
So basically women who have low self-esteem visit to a doctor and talk to her for a bit. Then the doctor prescribes a beauty patch that’s supposed to help them. Then she instructs the women to wear it for a while and record a video diary every night with their thoughts, feelings and the progress they’re making. After a few weeks, the women report back to the doctor for an update, and they ask what the ingredients were. Then they were shocked to discover that…there were no ingredients! Badum-ch.
Dove has been no stranger to making videos that catch people’s attention and make them challenge assumptions about beauty. They previously released a video featuring sketches of one woman as perceived by herself and perceived by others. For some reason that video didn’t bother me as much as this one did.
It’s good to discuss the importance of inner beauty and loving ourselves and everything, but I just have mixed feelings about this ad, as that’s really what it is. If nothing else, the ad certainly gets you thinking. All we need for higher self-esteem is ourselves: no makeup, no pills, no magic cure. What do you guys think? Do you think the ad was successful? Did you like it? Why or why not?
