When you watch television, do you pay attention to the commercials? Superbowl commercials are sometimes discussed even more than the actual game, and the Geico cavemen commercials actually have a fan base. I'm wondering if anyone is paying attention to the Dove Company's "Campaign for Real Beauty" commercials. These are the advertisements that show real women with real bodies selling real products meant for people of all races and backgrounds, and intentionally not targeted to the thinnest, wealthiest members of society, and it's time to start a fan base for them as well.
Link to the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty Ad
The commercials are a welcome change from a media that's constantly barraging us with pictures of scary thin models and celebrities who seem to have everything they could ever want in life, besides the capabilities of eating a Twinkie and drinking a pint of Sam Adam's Summer Ale. Dove products, as opposed to products that advertise with super thin models, advertise so that their products are not only alluring to rich stick figures, like so much of the designer labels are, but are actually products that real women could see themselves using. Most women are not super-thin super models or superstar celebrities. Most real women have normal sized bodies and normal sized appetites. And most real women also have pocketbooks that can afford Dove products, not Dolce and Gabbana or Versace.
Here's the deal ladies: those models that you see on the runway shows and in the pages of the very addicting gossip magazines are actually really unhealthy. In fact, they're so unhealthy that a new rule has just been imposed for European runway models. It has been recommended that any model with a Body Mass Index (BMI) that is less than 18 be banned from runway modeling. A healthy BMI ranges anywhere from 18.5 to 24.9, and is calculated by using both height and weight as factors.
But while calculating your BMI and making sure you're in a healthy range are good things to do for yourself, my point is that you should not be holding yourself to the standards that you see displayed on the runways or in the magazines. Many women have trouble differentiating between what is feasible and healthy and what is done with makeup and airbrushing. Women who hold themselves to the impossible standards set by runway models and fashion magazine fodder should let go of their preconceived notions of beauty, and embrace what they have to offer, instead of pining away for longer legs and impossibly flat stomachs.
And fellas, I know a lot of you would love to date the supermodels that are so popular on television today - but think carefully. Would you rather be with an emaciated model that was on the verge of being deathly ill, or would you like to pass your time with a gal who could drink a few brews with you while eating a slice or two of pizza? It's not fair to hold your girl to some impossible standard of "beauty" based on what you see on television either. Be realistic and be kind to the women that you meet in your life. We sure would appreciate it.
Maybe in time we'll actually see real women, modeling clothes that we could see ourselves wearing. They'll have curves and imperfections and actually look like they've spent a little time on the couch eating pints of Ben and Jerry's like the rest of us.
But the Dove Company is making those dreams a reality right now. Women everywhere, whether they're tall and thin, short and curvy or somewhere in between, are being represented on television as we speak. Women like to see our true selves represented in a society that sometimes forgets that not all of us are perfect, and most of us don't have the ways and means to look like a model in a magazine.
Everyone should take a closer look at what the Dove Company and their commercials are trying to convey. They say it's OK to be imperfect and that no matter what size, body type, skin color or weight you are, you are still beautiful. Those women in those advertisements are on television with the simple message of "I know I'm not perfect, but perfection isn't necessary. In fact, I don't want to be perfect. I'm fabulous just the way I am."
We could all learn a little something from the women who are smart enough and bold enough to be on television allowing viewers to see that imperfections are just as beautiful as our preconceived notions of a designer look. Instead of focusing your attention of an impossible standard of beauty, take a hint from the Dove women and show off what you do have. Most importantly, be proud of what you've got, and don't allow anyone to dictate to you what beauty is defined as.
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