Greetings everyone! Meet Team BUSFAM, a premier creative advertising agency, is again happy to introduce #BreakingtheAds. In this episode, we will present our unique perspective on Dove’s new ad campaign, “StopTheBeauty Test.”
We have often heard that all women are beautiful. But does the society truly consider all women to be equally beautiful?
Society has imposed some unrealistic standards for women which they are expected to conform to, no matter the struggle. So, who is a beautiful woman according to societal norms?
As a woman, you will be called “beautiful” only if you meet specific criteria such as fair skin, slimness with a flat tummy, perfect height, and long voluminous hair.
Those who do not conform to these criteria often get rejected by society- a rejection solely based on looks.
So, to change this mindset and support all women who are going through the same experience, Dove, a famous personal care brand came up with a new campaign, “#StopTheBeautyTest. “.
In our write-up, we will delve deeper into this ad campaign and present our thoughts on its message.
The campaign features teenage girls who were subjected to the social evil of being beautiful right from an early age. Their “report card” to appear beautiful for marriage began at a time when they should be concentrating on their studies.
The ad begins showing a dusky girl trying to study but is suddenly interrupted by her mother who forcefully applies a haldi besan pack on her face to make her complexion fair.
The next scene shifts to a tailor’s shop where a young girl is forced to breathe in air to reduce her measurement on the inch tape just because she is chubby.
In other scenarios, two young girls are taught that they cannot decline a marriage proposal and the right is reserved only for men. Why? Because she is not beautiful; she does not have long straight hair; she has marks on her cheeks.
In yet another scene, a teacher takes off the spectacles of a young girl right before her speech on stage.
The campaign ends with the dusky girl wiping off her face mask and the girl with the specs putting them back again, giving the message that all women should embrace their natural beauty. They just need to be “perfect” for themselves, not for others.
With this campaign, Dove targeted all women between 18 to 35 years of age who are pressured to live up to societal beauty standards and face rejection based on their appearance.
Dove spoke on behalf of such young women and tried to alleviate the miseries by challenging the beauty stereotypes that often make them feel unbeautiful.
According to a survey, more than 80% of women are judged based on how they look, what clothes they wear and how they carry themselves. No matter what their academic or professional abilities; they are required to score high on their “beauty report card.”
A recent example showing that women are rated by society is a teenage girl in UP, named Prachi Nigam who topped the state’s class 10 board exam with an exceptional score of 98.5 per cent. However, her achievements were completely sidelined and she was subjected to massive Internet trolling over her facial hair.
Many people have a mentality that “looks don’t matter.” But to the majority looks do matter, especially when it comes to marriage proposals for women.
We cannot deny that looks matter for first impressions, but there are other qualities which we must learn to appreciate.
As a society, it is our responsibility to empower all young girls and teach them to be confident in their skin. They must have the self-esteem to have a positive relationship with their appearance.
Every woman is unique and they must strive to remain focused on their potential to build their future and play a major role in contributing to the community.
Over the years, Dove has emerged as a brand which encourages women to accept their natural beauty. They did the same with their “#StopTheBeautyTest” campaign. The brand urges society to rise above judging women from their conventional lens and help them take a stand for themselves and realise their abilities.
Stay tuned for more such opinions on eye-opening advertisements.