Women often compare themselves to ideal body images, or, what they believe to be so. In reality, the ideal body shape does not exist. Well, it does, but the only portrayal of such characteristics are not even human. Women forget that they are naturally beautiful and even with all the exposure to makeup and beauty tips and tricks targeted towards them, promising fictitious results, it’s no wonder that we are not sure what natural beauty actually looks like. While many women rely on various sources, like social media and television, to give us examples of what is believed to be beautiful, they are also not perfect either and tend to make their own mistakes as well.
Dove is one of the products that has recently caused more than a few uproars about their choices in marketing their products to women. Dove UK released six different unusually shaped bottles to portray the many shapes of women. Clearly, this idea was not fully thought out; if it were, there would have been no apparent issues with the female customers.
(Photo courtesy of Dove UK)
The body wash bottles were meant to “…. Celebrate….women….in all shapes and sizes….” (Dove.com). Although this marketing strategy had good intentions, it failed to produce a true connection with the female consumer. Yes, all women are beautiful, and they are aware of what they look like, body shape included, but they do not need to be reminded daily, especially not in the shower.
After the release of these variously-shaped bottles of soap, many women were offended, but many also had a good sense of humor about it. From the news broadcasting program, The Today Show, many fans expressed their feeling on social media, “One woman on Twitter pointed out that Dove’s new bottles don’t exactly reflect real women’s bodies. ‘I have arms,’…. Others argued that Dove shouldn’t place so much emphasis on body shape. ‘This is so awful,’ wrote one Twitter user….” (Today.com). The public has successfully voiced their opinion about Dove’s error.
AS stated above, women compare themselves to what is thought to be perfect; based on the misunderstanding with Dove, we see that, the world in fact, is not perfect either. Women are free to be who they want to be and look how they so choose. It is actually the world around them that is unable to achieve perfection; women are human, women are perfect!