The latest commercial from Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” movement is an illuminating one, especially if you’ve never really internalized the fact that models on magazine covers and advertisements are Photoshopped to within an inch of their lives. Everyone “knows” that, of course, but still there’s that hidden (or not-so-hidden) belief that someone who looks like that actually exists somewhere outside of a Barbie box, and that if women just try hard enough — and buy the right things — they can look like that too.
Oddly enough, CG artists striving to make their creations more realistic will import imperfections and lopsided features and the result is more believable as a human being than any given Playboy centerfold of the last five years. So why bother using attractive women in the first place? Soon they’ll be able to drag any person at all in front of a camera and snap a picture for later improvement into godlike status without having to deal with divas or drug rehab schedules. And thinking that led me to… this.
I couldn’t help it, I succumbed to peer pressure (since, apparently, my peers consist of Ken dolls) and fixed myself. It took awhile.
The result? I now have none of those pesky skin pores, my features are more even, my hair has attained the fullness you only get with top quality carpeting, and my face can now withstand small arms fire. And I’m still not GQ-worthy, largely due to my lack of a good Depp filter. But at least now my self-esteem issues will get a good workout knowing that an idealized version of myself exists somewhere for the pleasure of others while the real me sits in a dark room somewhere and cries softly.
So, to help kill the “beauty is what they tell you it is” belief deader than Botoxed skin, I offer you the following. After you watch the Dove commercial, check out this demonstration of how magazine cover models are made, not born.
Then browse through the demo pages for this professional artist. And think about it. That glamorous goddess you’re fantasizing about?
For all you know, in real life she might look like me.
Wow. Enlightening.
Thank you for these liberating commercials! As a psychotherapist at an Eating Disorder Center, I am so “fed up” with the media’s negative influence on shaping female body image. The new Dove Commercials are reality-based and inclusive regarding the diversity of body shapes and sizes. It’s time the media promote acceptance of the beautiful diversity in all women. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Pam Hurley
Licensed Psychotherapist
Eating Disorder Center of Denver