We've all heard that 'sex sells,' but we rarely think twice about it. In fact, it's one tired cliché we've actually grown up believing. Unfortunately, for marketers and consumers worldwide...
We've been lied to.
And while there's no denying that Britney Spears sold records in great part due to eroticized expressions of virginity, research has shown that the higher sex content in an advertisement, the lower the brand name recall. In fact, a study conducted by Steadman found that brand-name recall was significantly lower in sexual advertisements than non-sexual advertisements. Still, we continue to tell our clients and our kids that same played out line.
The real question is this: what does this mean when it comes to perceptions of beauty and the body for women and men today?
In 2004, with the help of Ogilvy, Dove launched its famous 'Campaign for Real Beauty' after conducting a global study of beauty. The study confirmed that the definition of beauty had become impossible to attain. Dove found that only 2 % of women described themselves as beautiful and, when it came to body image and weight, women from all countries were unsatisfied with themselves. However, an overwhelming 81% strongly agreed that "the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can't ever achieve" and 75 % wish the media did a better job portraying the diversity of women's physical attractiveness, including size, shape, and age. With women making up roughly 50% of the world's population and influencing or buying 80% of products sold, companies ignoring what these women say and feel can be a costly mistake.
Dove's response was to develop "Evolution," a viral video with unprecedented success; viewed by more than 300 million people globally. Dove and Ogilvy won countless awards, including two Grand Prix Cannes Advertising Awards and a Grand EFFIE, which honors the most significant achievement in marketing communications. In the first six months of the campaign, sales of Dove's firming products increased 700% in Europe and the United States. In the first year, global sales surpassed $1 billion.
Shortly thereafter, Spain made headlines for banning super-thin models from runways after the deaths of 21-year-old Ana Carolina Reston and 22-year-old Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos, who reportedly died of heart failure after stepping off a runway during Montevideo's Fashion Week. The ban demanded models have a BMI above 18 to participate in shows. Soon, talk spread to other nations. Italy, India, Israel, and Canada proudly followed suit. Ordinarily, this might indicate an improvement; however, seven years after the Dove campaign, models in all the popular magazines have continued to get thinner and the US, UK, and France still haven't accepted a ban on undernourished models. Just last week, models walking on runways in both London and New York Fashion Week looked on the verge of collapse and guests were so horrified that many could be heard whispering about the ribs displayed, not the rags.
As the website, SomethingFishy.org, points out, "We need to remind ourselves and each other constantly (especially children) that these images are fake." The average female model is estimated to be 5' 9" tall and 110 lbs., resulting in a BMI (height to weight ratio) of just 16 (below 18.5 is considered underweight), according to The Evening Standard. Furthermore, photos are heavily photoshopped before going to print. Thus, these images are not only abnormal, but they're also unattainable and 'the result of these images on society makes us believe they should be.'
In addition to these manifestations of beauty and body, as Media Awareness in Canada also discovered, "The most cursory examination of media confirms that young girls are being bombarded with images of sexuality... those who continue to consume media images are strongly influenced 'by stereotypical images of uniformly beautiful, obsessively thin and scantily dressed objects of male desire. And studies show that girls who are frequent viewers have the most negative opinion of their gender.'"
But men, in case you think this isn't a problem for you... since 1967, male mannequins have gradually decreased in size by roughly seven inches in the chest and five inches in the waist. Manorexia is on the rise with over 1 million men and boys suffering daily. The amount of bare-chested six-pack wielding men in advertising has increased tenfold. Over fifteen years ago, Kolbe and Albanese (1996) examined male images from 1993 issues of Business Week, Esquire, GQ, Playboy, Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated and found that, overall, male images in the magazines were not depictions of ordinary, average men. Today, men, too, are being pushed to starve themselves to fit into skinny jeans and, if we don't put a halt to this alarming trend, we will see more boys and girls with high levels of physical insecurity and eating disorders.
In short, this affects us all.
With this in mind, when marketing products and services to women, here are three key factors to keep in mind.
1. Do not ignore what women are saying in the research.
Women want to see women who reflect what women in society look like. Period. The more we continue to ignore this one simple truth or make excuses for 'aspirational' or artificial constructs of beauty, the more we will experience an unbalanced society wrought with neurotic, unsatisfied women and equally neurotic, frustrated men. These representations speak to something uneasy within us -- something far too detached from the beauty of our own soul's purpose. And, although marketers can't solve every man or woman's insecurities, as individuals who trade in semiotics, we play an enormously large role in crafting the solutions.
2. Treating women as a category entirely different than men is a recipe for mediocrity.
I've never dated a man who watches sports. Millions of men do, but there are millions who would rather get a pedicure (and, yes, they're straight). So, if you're going to always put women in advertisements for cleaning products you're simply perpetuating behavior that, at least in my family, isn't always accurate. Look to Sweden. They listened to the research on gender and media. Subsequently, they developed several Ombudsman programs, Reklamombudsmannen and the Trades Ethical Council against Sexism in Advertising; each with the explicit purpose of eliminating stereotypical gender-specific behavior in advertisements because they recognize that it reinforces inequality. In Sweden, you will see both men and women in advertisements for cleaning products. As a result of this bold forward-thinking, their society reflects the equality, stability, and happiness that so many nations aspire to possess.
3. If you want market to healthy women then show us healthy women.
I've heard countless men complain about 'women with daddy issues' or 'crazy ex-girlfriends.' I've heard women called 'insecure' and 'clingy'.
Perhaps, it's high time we ask ourselves why these traits appear to be endemic to women reared in certain societies, but not others. Parents can only do so much when children are bombarded -- from the time they're toddlers -- with thousands of images of robotic models sucking on water bottles or Carmen Electra in a bikini on all fours. Perhaps, we ought to look at how complicit we are in the formation of these identities by creating advertisements where young girls are sexualized and models don't look like anyone we've ever seen in real life. Perhaps, we ought to learn from Dove's research and do something proactive to change these alarming trends.
Instead of creating an atmosphere of difference between the genders, let us foster the similarities between them.
Follow Layla Revis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/@jauntmagazine
Nick Watts: The Tale of the 'Manorexic' and the Celebrity
Please do not go on thinking that Dove is such a model company for attempting to change our perceptions of beauty because Unilever is only doing this to gain more profit. If you haven’t seen “The Axe Effect” yet, I suggest you have some knowledge on what the company is trying to say before admiring Dove’s “holy acts.” The only reason their “Real Beauty” campaign worked is because people are not aware that Unilever’s other little company is doing the exact opposite of what Dove is doing.
It's hard to keep fit, so just don't care about it.
And demolish the difference between the genders.
You are calling for complete degradation!
And the most interesting thing that i took away from that was regarding the other brands which are under Unilever (Lynx for example) had not changed their campaigns at all.
Even though i support Dove and like their commercials and their message, their company isn't following their own research or campaign.
WinningTheFuture is this being cent soared for?
4. Disregard 1, 2 and 3 if it puts the client account at risk.
-------
1. Do not ignore what women are saying in the research.
2. Treating women as a category entirely different than men is a recipe for mediocrity.
3. If you want market to healthy women then show us healthy women.
It can be realistic if women diet and exercise, which the majority don't. Men who aspire to grownup status are expected to work out; why can't women?
As for aesthetic diversity, higher-status males have higher expectations for their mates. If you don't mind having a lower-status mate, don't worry about your looks: a fat female has, ahem, a wider choice than a fat male.
Lastly, I'd believe that the ads are ineffective if Americans in general and females in particular didn't buy so much. It's almost as if the author is saying that American females have a clothes-buying bingeing problem, and Madison Ave. needs to cut them off by not advertising so much. If clothes stores didn't move so much product, then it'd be sensible that we'd see less clothes advertising of any type. I don't buy the clothes in men's mags because of the abnormally high prices, not because I am thinner than the beefcake models. I don't struggle to fit in pants; outside of major cities on the coasts, it's hard to find clothes NOT marketed towards the overweight.
That being said, I do believe that advertising needs to be cut down across the board. These images are giving men, women, and children an unrealistic idea of what an actual human being looks like. Further, the advertising that's out there needs to portray both men and women using products. Have you even seen a man in an ad for laundry soap? Probably not, even though there are plenty of men who do their own laundry.
Advertisers still tend to market to women as if we are children or highly superficial and only interested in pink things. Older women are marketed to mainly as "moms" or grandmothers whereas men are, throughout their lives, marketed to first as men and secondly as their societal roles.
There's also the fact that the camera puts about 40 pounds on you, so in order to register on camera as normal weight you have to be about 40 lbs lighter than the average person.
True, there are self-absorbed, fantasy prone women out there who can't tell the difference between what they're seeing in the media and their own lives, but most of us know exactly what's going on. As for these poor girls that keep sacrificing their health and self-respect in order to make it as models, actresses, ballerinas, porn stars and trophy wives, we had a little thing back in the twentieth century called Feminism that changed the rules so that ambitious young females had the opportunity to do something with their lives besides selling their bodies. We're in the postfeminist era of course, but my understanding is that those opportunities are still there. Check it out.
I'm from the North. I have always had my own car, home and everything I own is paid for by me, with the exception of gift from family. I am truly apalled by the amount of young girls down here getting knocked up by multiple men to collect a lifetime paycheck. Of course she won't use the money to feed or clothe her child, but rather, for a new tramp stamp....oh wait, no more room there... put one one the front.....or designer clothes, or nails. But the system allows this....so it's practices continually down here.
I am a size 10, I live a very healthy lifestyle, I eat right and exercise and stay very active. If I were to ever loose a lot of weight or drop a couple dress sizes, for my body type, I would be unhealthy. You have no idea how refreshing it has been for me to see diversity represented as beautiful and to see real images of beautiful women embracing and loving who they are. We need to band together, not buy into the media and how they define beauty. THANK YOU!
I love the Dove print ads and commercials.
I grew up with Vogue, Bazaar, W but also National Geo, Smithsonian, MS, Economist and 2 different sets of encyclopedias. I grew up plus size but never ever had a self-esteem problem; but that was in the 70's.
Today's youth are bombarded with so many sexualized images; fast life, fast living. Parents needs to talk often and early to their children about behavior, image. I am friends with my boy's friends' older sisters - they love to come visit too. I always let them know that I am there for them if they have any problems or concerns. Keep it real Dove.
Off to the gym!