Since 2004, we’ve all been at least somewhat aware of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty. Here we are, eleven years later, still talking about it. Dove has released a number of videos and projects targeted towards women – all women, all ages, all sizes, and all ethnicities, everywhere. Recently, the company released a new video that showed women across the globe faced with a choice to walk through one of two doors. The first door was labeled “beautiful” the second was labeled “average.”
Watch it here:
Dove Choose Beautiful | Women all over the world make a choice
The vast majority of the women chose average, regardless of their location or what they looked like.
They were interviewed afterwards as to why they chose what they did and Dove received a variety of heartfelt answers. Many women felt self-conscious that others would see them as conceited if they chose the “beautiful” door. Others genuinely believed that they belonged under the “average” category.
So, what does this mean?
By the end of the video, most of the women admitted they should have walked through the “beautiful” door. This demonstrates the idea that the confidence and real beauty are there, we just need to find it in ourselves and others.
Here at Bucknell, recent events have pushed us as a community to change how we perceive and treat others. In order to allow ourselves to feel beautiful and accepted, we need to encourage others to do the same.
One woman in the video said that she was walking towards the “average” door and her mother pulled her towards the “beautiful” side. We can recognize beauty in others, so why is it so hard to see it in ourselves? It’s easy to tell your best friend she is stunning, but consider how hard it would be to tell someone else that you consider yourself to be attractive. It seems vain, but the reality is that we need to be okay with some self-appreciation.
So today, take a moment to see beauty in yourself. Whether it is out loud or in your head, be the voice that will push yourself towards the beautiful door, because you deserve it, girl!