Dove Real Beauty Sketches

This is a beautiful project. Earlier this year, Dove released a short film called “Dove Real Beauty Sketches,” in which they had an FBI-trained sketch artist to draw women based on their own perceptions of themselves, followed by a stranger’s perception of that woman.

The strangers’ descriptions tended to paint the women in a more beautiful way. This pinpoints womens’ worries in how they see themselves, often defining themselves as more “ugly” or unattractive than how others perceive them.

Albeit, the Dove company did elicit a strong emotional response from this video–targeting “‘warmth, ‘happiness’ and ‘knowledge’ from its target demographic–” (Business Insider) it nonetheless serves a greater message than what all the critics are saying. (White women, beauty as paramount, and “the ad blames women, rather than society, for critiquing the smallest physical imperfection.” Business Insider, “Why People Hate Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ Ad”.)

I would just like to praise this ad for its effort and ease in sending the message out there–that others do not necessarily see the imperfections you may see in yourself, or that you don’t always give yourself credit where credit is due.

We, especially as women, live in a society where our appearances have reached a hyper-sensationalized level. It doesn’t entirely feel right or fair that this is the way things are, but rather than complaining about it, I feel we ought to use this as a  reminder to not feel so trapped by those negative perceptions of ourselves. We should remember we are beautiful regardless and use that confidence to really forward ourselves as strong, positive women–and people. Rather than dwindling on the little things, we can hold up our confidence to make real waves in whatever it is we care about.

Accepting things and actively living in the way we choose to respond to things is more powerful than talking, I feel. So, even if this ad does show some prejudices against women and may focus on white women, we’re all one and the same. And it is still one-step.