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Let
me begin by stating that I admire and respect Dove’s “campaign
for real beauty."
Their heart-felt commercials are enough to get me sniffling, and I
absolutely agree that healthy family relationships can bolster
self-esteem. Unfortunately, mothers can’t always shield their
daughters. My mother can tell me I’m beautiful, but I
won’t believe her
when every media outlet is telling me that I’m fat or ugly.
Dove
avoids preventative methods, advising that we mend low self-esteem
after the fact. But why not address the sources, those who generate
dangerous media? While we may appreciate Dove’s
efforts, they are a corporate source and thus limited. It would be
undiplomatic to accuse other companies. In addition, Dove cannot speak
out against any company owned by their parent company, Unilever.
Unilever’s
website is deceiving, flaunting supposed values with an “our
values”
section in their navigation bar. They claim, “the Unilever
community is
shaped and led by its people, who operate creatively within a framework
of shared values and business goals.” Shared?
You’ll scoff at the
irony; while Unilever
owns Dove—an
excellent model of values—they also own Axe and Slimfast.
Axe’s TV
commercials seem mild in comparison to their website. Go to Axe nine
ways
and be appalled. Pictures and quotes appear in which women are
completely objectified and masculine stereotypes revamped. Just when
you think it can’t get any worse, it does with each product:
“A wall of beer
cans, I love how your mind works.”
“Six packs are
over-rated, I’m more interesting in your other
muscles.”
“I know the six
kama sutra positions where you can still face the TV.”
“Hi…
that’s enough foreplay.”
Axe ought to at
least objectify a range of beautiful women like Dove advocates, but
of course, men are only attracted to models. Not to mention,
their product captions sound like really bad porn:
“Put
it on your body and get ready to explore the deep.”
“All
that’s left to do is rise to the occasion.”
“Wear
it on your body, and teach her how to rub things together to start a
fire.”
“It’s
only a matter of time before sensitive, sexy ladies want to touch the
rest of you.”
Really,
I could go on and on about how wrong Axe’s
website is, even down to their FAQs, but I’ll just let you
explore it for yourself.
Slimfast
isn’t exactly offensive, but the name makes me shudder: you
better get thin because you’re not thin enough, and you better do
it fast! Yes, Americans have an obesity problem, but they probably
shouldn’t be depending on gimmicky starvation shakes. There is
something paradoxical about Dove and Slimfast; one brand accepts people as they are, while the other brand’s success depends solely on making people feel inadequate.
I’m
confident that Dove
does not brush elbows with other Unilever
companies and that they are most likely unaware of their coworkers.
Clearly, Unilever
is at fault, alleging values that are by no means uniform.
It’s about
time that someone speaks up about these inconsistencies. If interested
in writing Unilever,
contact
them and tell them what you think about Dove, Axe, or phony
values.
B.
Brownholtz
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