Not only for Black People: Beauty Standards

Dove/Unilever geben sich mit ihrer "Initiative für wahre Schönheit" große Mühe, um gegen falsche Body-Images und Schönheits-Standards vorzugehen. Nicht jeder nimmt ihnen die guten Absichten ab:

"I clearly underestimated the widespread female desire to see nonemaciated women in ads for beauty products. These Dove ads feel so refreshing on that score that I understand why women might want to cast a vote (with their dollars) for the products behind them.

I still can't shake the feeling, though, that this reasonable impulse is a bit misguided. Dove's appeal to righteous sisterhood is just another flavor of marketing. And it's not particularly grounded in reality. Are we meant to believe that Unilever, the company that makes Dove, is a force for good? How to reconcile this notion with the ads for another Unilever product, Axe body spray, in which nearly every woman shown is a skinny, fashion-model-gorgeous nymphomaniac? (And by the way, Unilever also offers Slimfast, in case you're not quite as happy with your body as the Dove girls are.)

There's a reason advertising in the beauty industry is almost always aspirational (Oh, if I buy this, I'll look more like the stunningly beautiful woman in the ad?). I would love to think that, with the help of these Dove spots, women will forget all about society's unfair beauty standards and simply aspire to feel good about themselves. That would be wonderful. But I find it hard to believe that Dove has actually reversed a lot of powerful instincts that are deeply rooted in the human psyche. Down the line a little—when the buzz has faded from Dove's social statement as sales pitch—I think we'll begin to see some skinnier, hotter women slipping into their advertising."

Was denkt ihr?