410 (Spring 2018 Section 01) Case Study IS BEAUTY MORE THAN SKIN DEEP They are thin, possess flawless skin, and have beautiful hair. They are the models and celebrities we see in television, print, and billboard ads that tout the latest shampoos, anti-aging creams, and skin cleansers. The too can look like this. message is clear. Buy our product and you Beginning in 2004, Dove, a division of Unilever, started to send out a radically different message when the brand a Campaign for Real Beauty." The first step in Dove's campaign, a tactic to support its skin-firming cream, introduced the nation to billboards that showed unretouched photographs of "normal women of various sizes in just their underwear Dove sent the message that women do not need to conform to the standards of beauty the fashior industry determines. E woman, regardless of her age or body size, is beautiful. The and gained more steam with the viral release of the video "Evolution The ad featured film studio. The campaign continued to build strongly over the next couple of years, an average-looking woman who enters a video then speeds through a series of hair, makeup, and shock t techniques. In 60 seconds she emerges as a gorgeous model on a billboard. the statement, "No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted. This viral video was followed with "Onslaught," an equally powerful ad, which shows the intensity mmediately after the final shot of the billboard, the video blacks out to y of personal care, diet, and exercise advertising as viewed through the eyes of a young girl. The ad ends with another campaign, "Dove Real Beauty Sketches," shows us how critical was inspired by research conducted some women can be in evaluating and describing their looks. It by Dove that found only 4 percent of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. An important part of the Campaign for Real Beauty is the Dove Self-Esteom Fund. With of selfl-worth, this arm of the campaign works to provide with the Giri Scouts, the Boys and Girls confidence-building tools and workshops for young girls. Dove partners Clubs of America, and girls.inc to educate girls on the importance of self-esteem owns Dove, is as guilty as the rest of the industry in promoting false ideals of cited as flagrant examples Dove reaped a lot of public relations benefits from the campaign, but it is not without its critics. Some charge that Unilever, which beauty. Ads for the company's Axe brand often are of messages that objectity women. In addition, the ant-aging and firming creams Unilever sells thrive about their looks. If she is supposed to be satisfied with her natural beauty, then why does a woman need g the airbrush techniques Dove used to photograph these "normal hese producisr inadowda promient photo editor who claimed that he had done a large amount of retouching An article in the New Yorkorcited editor who but retouched them only to correct color and remove dust. Stil, this was a damaging accusation against Dove and its and mentioned what a chalien photos b ge it was to make the women look atractive. Unilever's response was that it did not digitaily alter the agency Ogivy & Mather, ospecially since the "Evolution campaign criticizes retouching t whether such an emoionally charged campaign recognition to the brand, but does it resonase with the consumer over the long term? Apparenby yos, of n actualy boosts sales. It certainly helps to break Finaly, there is the question through the clumer and bring Dove reported a doubling of its sales in the first 5 years aher the campaign launched. Will this 4 5 6 7 8 0