Dove Chooses Beautiful campaign is focused on female body image and body acceptance, which are significant issues in contemporary society. The slogan “Choose Beautiful” encourages women to let go of their insecurities about appearance and feel beautiful in the body that they have now. Thus, Dove’s campaign reflects the value that is attributed to appearances in contemporary society but chooses to also depict the values of acceptance of self-love. While this differs from cultural norms, the example is positive because it encourages meaningful cultural change that would make women feel better about themselves and their appearance.
The campaign also depicts some essential stereotypes and generalizations that are relevant to contemporary society. First, Dove includes stereotypical images of beautiful women when it shows women who chose the “beautiful” door. The campaign illustrates that women who feel beautiful are mostly tall, thin, and have attractive facial features. The key generalization made by Dove is that all women are conscious about their appearance and want to be considered beautiful rather than average. While this is true for many women who choose to adhere to cultural norms, not all women feel this way.
Dove is based in the United Kingdom, and although body image issues are widespread in this culture, the country is considered to be rather progressive in terms of its views on female empowerment, body image, and beauty. In contrast, there are many cultures that are yet to accept the notion that women must look beautiful and conform to society’s expectations with regards to their appearance.
For example, in contemporary American culture, plastic surgery and weight loss are among the most common trends. For people from this culture, the generalizations and stereotypes appearing in Dove’s campaign are relevant, but the message behind it would likely evoke a neutral or negative response. People who agree with the notion that women must look beautiful might feel that the campaign is unnecessary because women would still need to change their appearance to look more beautiful. They might also feel indignant at the notion that women who do not conform to the idealistic beauty image can be called beautiful and feel this way. Thus, despite the similarity in cultural norms, stereotypes, and generalizations, viewers from a contrasting culture would have a different response to the campaign.
The influences of Dove’s Campaign are mostly positive, although there are some areas for improvement. Firstly, the campaign provides empowerment for women who feel insecure about their appearance, thus helping them to gain confidence and address body image issues. Secondly, the campaign refuses the idealistic image of beauty in favor of diverse images, arguing that beauty comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors. This could have a positive effect on contemporary culture because it promotes diversity and empowers women from different backgrounds. These positive changes in culture could help to promote body positivity and fight body image issues, eating disorders, and insecurities.
One negative influence that could be attributed to the campaign is that it excludes men and non-binary persons. This aspect is harmful because it makes men and non-binary persons think that their body image issues do not deserve media attention and are not significant. Additionally, the message of the campaign emphasizes the importance of beauty, which could undermine its purpose and lead to adverse effects.
In order to improve the campaign for people with contrasting values and address globalization from an ethical viewpoint, Dove could include more diversity in this campaign. The campaign could also include more nationalities instead of focusing on just three countries. This would help the organization to approach globalization from an ethical perspective by promoting multiculturalism and inclusion.