Reader's Question

Hey fellow bloggers!

Monica, one of our followers had a question that I was very curious to know as well. She asked, "I'm curious as to if there's any research on the new beauty campaigns such as the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, that are trying to promote feeling beautiful in your own body. Are those have any effect to counter the traditional media? How has this impacted women's perceptions of themselves?"

These are a great set of questions, seriously. For those of you all who are not aware of the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty with the video that had real sketches of women that was going viral for a while on Facebook, I felt as though this video had a very powerful, underlying message. It is also very well known that women already have a very HIGH standard of what they should look like, but how often is this reality? Here, I'll let you all see for yourself.

http://realbeautysketches.dove.us 

This should open your eyes to a new horizon. Make sure to read the little prologue to this video at the top of the website, it's worth it.

So, after watching this video, if you are a woman, how do you feel? Can you relate to this video even to the slightest bit? If your a man, how do you think a woman you are close to such as a sister, mom, friend, or coworker feels everytime you talk about the "hottest girl ever" on the newest magazine in the grocery store and how perfect her body is. Women, comparison is the thief of joy. I learned that this was so true because I myself even had an issue with constantly being my very worst critic and never knowing how to be grateful and praise myself for the good things about me. It wasn't until just a few weeks ago, I got to start talking to some older friends and family members that I have always looked up to and went to them for some advice. I also found some things to occupy my time in a different way. In a positive way. I began to start reading more books about how to live your life in a positive way and what to do when you are struggling with self confidence.

As far as research goes for the specific Dove Campaign, they used the Action Assembly Theory which basically means that in order to understand behavior you have to first understand how people think. This theory seeks to understand human behavior through their mental process. There are three main factors of attaining full knowledge of this: congitive structure, content, and cognitive process (Greene, 1989). Dove has been notoriously known to promote the natural beauty in ALL women. Of course, the ladies that are in the video above aren't super models or by any means the most perfect people in the whole world, but their imperfections make each and every individual perfect. This video towards the end once the reveal happens, all of the women come to the realization and conclusion that it's okay to finally accept yourself for who you are.

Greene, J. (1989). Action assembly theory. (Master's thesis), Available from McGraw-Hill. Retrieved from http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0073385026/228359/action.pdf