KirStang

2/3rds (66%) of the adults in the U.S. are overweight, and approximately 34 percent of the population is obese. Though I don't like the thought of people having low self esteem due to body images, I also don't like the idea of promoting being over-weight as normal.

What I'm driving at here is, that perhaps we should focus on the health problems associated with being overweight, as opposed to promoting the notion that being on the heavy side is ideal. Obesity has been on a steady upward incline nationwide since the 1980's, so by saying, "it's ok" we might actually be hurting the effort to thin out and reduce weight problems in the United States.

Just my 2 cents on Dove's campaign

flstf

The women in the Dove commercials look pretty normal to me. I saw a TV news show the other day where a commentator said that the Dove campaign was doomed to failure. She said that advertizing was not about reality and even overweight women will not want to use what will become known as the "fat girl's soap".

It will be interesting to see how successful this ad campaign turns out to be for Dove in the long run. Right now it is getting them plenty of publicity.

Ronin Tetsuro

Anyone who begins referring to Dove as 'fat girl's soap' should be drug out in the street and beaten along with the woman who said this. Jesus.

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Lasereth

No one brought up that argument. Your post made it sound like fat people are fat because they eat too much and don't want to make the effort to change it. That's not the case. There are many people who are fat because of their own actions, but there are just as many who are fat because of their genes. There's no debate about that, it's fact. It's just as true with skinny people...some have extremely high metabolism and some don't. It's ignorant to say that fat people can't complain because they could change themselves when skinny people can eat what they want and do absolutely nothing and never gain a single pound. Eating 500 calories a day and exercising hours and hours per week to live the life of a "normal, skinny person" that does nothing to control their weight doesn't sound like fun to me.

-Lasereth

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Catdaddy33

The media sucks....they'll exploit anything...

There is nothin wrong with any of the women pictured in that ad look. I see very few women at work, at the mall or at the gym, that look like like they should be supermodels....

Schwan

The Dove campaign is driven by a fine idea. As for the ladies in it, they're nice too. Having said that, I have to admit that I prefer slimmer figures. Having read a few topics on this campaign in various places on the internet, I have to say that according to most people, I would be considered fucked up, or out of touch with reality because of what I like (not that I overly care about random people's opinions). Curves may be all right to most, but some people simply prefer something else - not because they're "internet males" or insensitive, chauvinist pricks.

For the last decade or two all media promoted the slim figure as something people should want (not that it changed anything - obesity rates increased, as far as I know). This resulted in a lot of people being harassed for the fact that they were overweight. Now that the full body (aka "women with curves ) ideal is emerging as a more popular option for the media to promote, I see that it's more common to lash out at thin girls and portray them as "not real women" or some such nonsense. There's room for everybody. Won't we ever learn?

CZzyzx41

I love a woman with curves. Married one and I always thought it was a bit disturbing and ignorant how society doesn't mind a man being curvy but if a woman has curves anywhere other than her chest or butt, it's not acceptable. Bah!

I also think it would have been nice to include a few thin models in that campaign to mix in. Show that a REAL WOMAN is any human being with a vagina...regardless of weight, race, or age.

EDIT: I should have said a real woman is any human being with two X chromosomes. Not all female human beings are born with vaginas. Whether there's some general mutations in the development phase or maybe an addicent later in life, to say that in order to be a woman you need a vagina is still ignoring those who may not have one through no fault of their own, but still carry the double-x chromosome that designates them as the female of the species.

Sweetpea

I think it's celebrating the diversity of women's looks and i like that and i think it's a good thing for young women to see.

What i would like to see is the campaign add is a little more diversity, some thin, some 'overwieght' and some average women, some with small breasts and some with large, not just all size 10-12 like in their current campaign. I'd like to see them expand the concept but overall i think it's a good step.

Sweetpea

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Elphaba

How about older women whose curves have migrated to other places?

Looks in mirror...bad idea, Elf

Gilda

Or even two X chromosomes.

Gilda

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Sugarmouse

dove knew this campaign would sell the product..andmake women like dove more.
having been a cynic..it is a pretty good message it sends out

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Janey

All of these women look amazing. In shape, not fat, standard mesomorphs. They should do the campaign based on a random sampling of women from any neighbourhood street. Take mine for example, all of the women on this add would make the women on my street self conscious.

Charlatan

These women are not even close to being fat...

I am far more distrurbed by the need to sell firming cream...

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lindalove

Here's the Dove Real Woman campaign for Japan:

http://www.dove-realbeauty.jp

According to this ad, all Japanese women are thin with perfectly flat stomachs. Maybe they are, I don't have a lot of knowledge about Japanese women, but it doesn't seem to reflect differences in women.

For an ad campaign that is supposed to promote real beauty, and these women are supposed to portray that beauty, then why do they need to use Dove's products at all? In theory, they shouldn't require any special products.

Karby

someone please correct me if i'm wrong, but i think that in countries like japan, weight wasn't much of an issue because traditional japanese diet is low in fat and carbs anyway. it's only recently, i think, after the adoption of western diets that japan is only starting to see an increase in problems with obesity.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/...n1318808.shtml

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dawnoffawn

"Fat" or overweight people certainly are not responsible for what they are?
And anyone who deosn't look stick thin is considered "overwieght" when you go check out the "weight calculators" on the internet.
For example, for me to be consider the "ideal weight" according to their standards, I have to be less than 109 pounds! I'd have to literally starve myself to get that thin!
I dont eat much..but still I'm considered overweight. I can't help that I have curvy genes and that my body is curved in all the wrong places. every culture has different genes, some have curvier hips, some have no hips even if overweight, some have tummies..it's not thier fault.

Zeraph

I do not see any fat women in that picture.

ARTelevision

The campaign is a small step in the right direction.

However, it's far better for us to be able to change ourselves than it is to have to be led by advertisers.

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Tuft

Real women have diversified body types that shouldn't be catergorized as either stick or curvaceous.

That's exactly it. As corny as their advertisment with the little girls (the one where they each wish "my hair was blonde" or "my eyes were blue" or "I didn't have freckles") is, it's great material for television audiences; I hope that these ideas will integrate into other parts of the popular media. I think with women like Queen Latifa becoming popular, who are gorgeous and a "plus size," Hollywood will eventually try to broaden its aesthetic image. I only wish this movement were free of its commercialism.

stevie667

I think we should find him, then show him some fat people in their underwear, just to teach him a lesson.

Good advert, although i'm not in line for any firming cream at the moment (unless i missed a meeting), its good that one company has taken the first steps into bringing advertising back into plausable boundaries.

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Ustwo

I know this is an old thread, but it was silly then and silly now.

First those woman are in shape. Maybe a bit of a belly on one, but barely. Now walk down any-street USA. You will be lucky to find more than a handful of women in that good of shape over 30.

This has very little to do with realistic self image for anyone other than anorexics.

It did get a lot of free plublicity, but come on, there is nothing to see here.

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Toaster126

I love it when ad campaigns can motivate people by doing shit like this.

These women aren't fat. Hell, a couple have ribs showing. If they really wanted to make a statement, they'd actually use fat people. People would then be less likely to buy thier product. It's how human nature works. It's part of the "halo" effect.

They are trying to make money. This allows them to get rabid fans from the "empowered, real women" demographic, and doesn't lose them any customers. Good job Dove.

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cellophanedeity

While I appreciate the senitments and the models (some of the most beautiful women I've seen in advertisements) of Dove, I don't think the message will be able to be reached until the entire parent company decides to go along with it. Unilever is using two completely different approaches with their products:

Dove: All women are beautiful, we can just help you feel prettier.
Axe: Skinny horny women want you. You stud.

Kinda contradictory adverts, neh?

And I don't think Dove ever said that they were campainging for "fat women," just women of varying healthy shapes and sizes.

Poppinjay

This is why I'm disappointed that Wal Mart stopped using employees as models in their fliers. I actually used to look forward to them just to see the people, because they were normal.

Otherwise, Wal Mart is devil, but that was one thing they did that I really liked.

If there's one thing the internet porn sites have taught us, there are no "regular" people anymore. That's why sites that had women who looked like the girl next door (or may have actually BEEN the girl next door) boomed while playboy.com languished in unprofitability.

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Lockjaw

No it's knowing your demographic.

Play to the perceived insecurities of the women who would use a "firming" cream. Play to the pre-pubescent fantasies of the average male to get them to use a product they likely would not normally.

Personally I'm looking for the Axe Boby spray that will make the women in the dove ad go crazy.

Lockjaw

Considering the outrageous idealized beauty of what the idea woman in Japan would have to look like to compete with the zepplin chested size negative two sex kittens the Japanese male idolizes....
Yeah they probably are average.

highthief

They look a little portly to me.

But then again, my wife would be one of the women so many fatties derisively call a "stick", or some such thing.

I always find it funny and a little sad that people defend people's "right" to be 20 or 30 pounds overweight, but are quick to try to mock any woman under 120 pounds.

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raeanna74

I'm considered just barely overweight - not by those scales online but by my Dr who knows all the aspects about my health. I was NOT even close to overweight only a year ago. I was healthy, active and even a bit muscular. I have gained only about 20 lbs and then lost 5 of that. BUT I know I don't have nearly as much muscle so that 20 lbs is only a part of the fat that I gained. I lost muscle mass. I am working on getting into better shape and I can feel it but it's a slow tedious discouraging process and I only have 20 lbs to loose.
I have developed an appreciation of those people who are severely overweight who manage to loose even 15 lbs. BECAUSE I know just a little bit better of how easily the weight can come on and how HARD it is to loose it. I gained my weight and loss my muscle mass through no fault of my own. Since last winter I have been trying to loose and have been eating about 1100 - 1200 calories a day and making sure at least some of that is fresh fruit and vegetables. I eat well. I got to where I am because of injury and surgery. With a broken foot, three surgeries, and trouble with my thyroid I was hampered in my activities. I was forcibly imobilized by the broken foot. Any job was made ten times as difficult and almost dangerous to complete. The surgeries were all in my abdomin which slowed a LOT of movements. Running was painful because of the broken foot for at least 3 months after I was allowed to walk. It still can be painful (since the bones never fused) and slows me down at times.
I'm more aware now though of the circumstances that put a person into a heavier weight catagory. It's not even always genes but bad eating habits that parents allow the child to get into. Lessons learned when younger are terribly difficult to relearn later and weight is even more difficult to control then.

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Vincentt

There are fat people here in Japan too.

I think this ad is only for America.

I don't think it would take on well here in Japan.

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dd3953

And they do all look fine. I don't see where the the fat woman are. Shit. If that is fat, the man who said that is going to be lonely for a long time.

That is what real (beautiful) woman look like.

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JustJess

They DO look good. They are healthy. Because everyone is different, and that's good. But to actually be obese (enough with the "fatties" vs. "skinnies" crap) isn't healthy. None of those women are obese. Who would say that being unhealthy is cool? Sheesh.

The point is - they are beautiful, but they are not the conventionally sized model. The average model is at least 5'8" and usually no more than 120lbs. That's what you're usually looking at. That's why these women are unusual in the media.

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Leto

i drive past this billboard every day. I need to slow down and appreciate it. Speaking as a healthy male, this is a beautiful collection of women.

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KungFuGuy

It is worthwhile to note that none of the women featured in this advertising campaign was above...a size 6 (i think). I don't remember the actual sizes, but I'm positive that the largest model there was one or two sizes below the national average.

Back when I was interning at a commercial production company last year and this campaign hit, it was HUGE in the advertising world. Nike tried following up with their own and it flopped big time.

personally, I think its a great advertising campaign. The women are beautiful and realistic. It shows a realistic goal for women to strive for as well, if they aren't there yet. This is in stark contrast to the bony models I'm used to seeing on 5th avenue and broadway. They just have a genetic predisposition for it, which makes it an unrealistic goal for the majority of women.

sadeianlinguist

In the late 1990's, people who never worried about being fat all of a sudden woke up obese thanks to new health standards. I'm a 130 lb., 5' 5" female, and if I use the right criteria, I'm pushing hard against obesity. (I'm hour-glass shaped and most women are not. Like REALLY hour-glassy...)

Obviously, there are very few 500 lb. people who are healthy; no denying. However, if a woman is 250 or 300 lbs., is healthy, mobile, exercising, why do we feel the need to change her?

Besides, more people become fat as a result of extreme dieting and destroying their metabolisms. I'm definately someone who went through that as someone who had anorexia as a teenager. After hitting my low weight in the eighties, I almost ballooned up to 160 when I just started eating normally. It took my metabolism FIVE YEARS to settle back, after five years of abuse, about two of those being really extreme. I can't imagine what ten years of severe dieting would do to a body. I think if that were the case, I'd easily weigh 300 lbs. by the time I was 25.

Maybe if someone had said to me, "Hey, your ass is fat, but you're still an attractive, nice, worthy human being, I'd weigh 115 or so, and I wouldn't have these god-awful stretch marks from doubling my weight in a matter of a couple years. Maybe if we recognized there's more than one type of beauty in the world, life would be better for everyone.

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Toaster126

I'm confident there are no 300 pound women on the planet that wouldn't have their health improved by dropping weight. Let's not get crazy here.

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sadeianlinguist

I can think of six 300 lb. people who are healthy and active. Get to know some fat people. And just how fit do you need anymore anyway? I've got a very physical job, but I'm an exception. Doesn't really help or hinder anything whether or not you can run six miles or not.

Health is not a number. While I may feel achy and tired at 150, you may be the most mobile, fit person on the planet at 240. Why can't we promote the idea of health at any size?

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JustJess

Yeah, ditto. 180? Sure. But 280? No way. Not unless she's 6'6" and a lifting queen.

I'm not saying you can't be healthy at a larger size than someone else. What I'm saying is that it would be pretty difficult to be healthy for anyone, based simply on physiological fact, at 300 pounds.

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Toaster126

I said women, like you did, and I call bullshit.

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MSD

I weigh close to 300, and at 6'8", I can tell you that I'm anything but in shape and healthy. I maintain my opinion that the women in these ads are all healthy and within a healthy distance of their "ideal" weight; they may look much more substantial than your aveage heroin chic model, but they are not any more "real" than most. I can see ribs on 5 of the 6.

JustJess

Exactly my point. They are healthy. They are unusual in the ad world because they are reasonably shaped - not anorexic or ridiculously thin, but reasonable and healthy. But not the usual touted media model. That's the difference. By regular media standards, I am too heavy. But if you met me, you (I hope) would not think so at all. Because *I* am normal, like the Dove women, and *they* are not.

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