For years, companies have toyed with the idea of including “real women” (aka not one-size-fits-all models) in their advertising. Except they don’t seem to really get it, like Victoria’s Secret’s “Perfect Body” campaign that was an attempt to celebrate all bodies, but still used their normal models (*face palm*).
Dove, however, seems to be the one company that is leading the industry with their #RealBeauty campaign, and pledges to celebrate real beauty in all its forms. For years now (since 2004 to be exact), the company has used women in its ads who actually look like their customers. Who knew such a simple thing would be so difficult to achieve?!
The latest addition to the campaign follows the stories of 32 women and how they have overcome insecurities in their life. Photographed by famous fashion photographer Mario Testino, this series will be extremely diverse in many aspects. It will feature women from over 15 countries, including Iran and Indonesia, and all from various age groups—the range is 11 to 71! Now that’s what I call diverse.
What Dove is doing with its #RealBeauty pledge is not only important for us consumers, but it’s setting a great example for other companies as well. While campaigns in the past have attempted to be “diverse” (yet only include slim models in various shades of white and tan), Dove is setting the industry standard—and making sure that other companies follow suit.
All I gotta say is: it’s about damn time! Considering all of the inequality that still persists in today’s society, somebody doing exactly what Dove is accomplishing with this campaign is exactly what we need.