Dove

• Dove launched the ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ in 2004.
• The campaign was about embracing and celebrating difference, empowering women and boosting confidence.
• In 2017, Dove launched the Real Moms campaign that focused on celebrating the real, challenging and unique beauty of motherhood, rather than the perfect, commercialised version of motherhood.
• Campaign objectives:

  • Create a product line to compete with a competitive market where cJohnson and Johnson have 63.7% market share.
  • To empower mothers.
  • To unite women on their journey through motherhood.
  • To enable ‘real people’ to see themselves represented in advertisement.
  • To challenge the ‘perfect mother’ stereotype.
• Shot type - wide shot is used with deep focus photography to make audience feel as though they are present within the kitchen scene, this personalises the mother and gives advert emotional appeal.
• Slogan “real life, real beauty” emphasises Dove’s campaign aims.
• The repetition of the word ‘real’ in the slogan ensures audiences understand Doves intentions to depart from the use of celebrities and models.
• Logo - Dove is an established, recognised and trusted brand known for campaigning for diversity and inclusivity.
• Shot in a real kitchen, constructs realism.
• Sans serif font used as it is impactful, bold, contemporary and neutral.
• The mother wears no makeup and wears a messy, basic outfit rather then having a full face, perfect clean clothes and styled hair - this departs from typical mother-baby adverts challenging stereotypes of the “perfect mother” and connotes everyday realism.
• Anchorage - written text helps amplify the message of ”real”.
• Intertextuality - advert references the wider campaign which adopted a multiplatform approach.
• The hashtag will appeal to a digital native audience and encourages audience interactivity and participation to create an “online buzz”.
• The absence of the product image subverts typical advert stereotypes - Dove are selling the lifestyle rather than the product.
• Composition and layout - slogan and brand name are placed in the top left third of the frame, which is where our eyes naturally fall first.
• Hashtag is in the lower third, the last thing the audience will see, encouraging audiences to interact with the content they have just consumed.
• Persuasive language - the word “real” constructs realism and departs from luxury lifestyles presented in other baby products.
• Persuasive language - the use of the word “beautifully” makes the ‘real’ image of motherhood appear attractive and desirable.
• Lifestyle - this advert challenges the promotion of a privileged and luxury lifestyle and instead encourages the real lifestyle of the average person.
• The promotion of realism makes Dove appear affordable and therefore appealing to the average audience who most likely cannot afford expensive baby products.
• Beauty appeal - the advert focuses on natural and raw beauty.
• The use of the hashtag 'beautifully real moms’ within the advert signifies the new impact of technology in our daily lives of todays society.
• The hashtag used to appeal to digital natives will make them feel part of a group and gives the campaign a sense of personalisation.
• The hashtag invites mothers to participate in the campaign.
• The campaign allowed mothers to upload their own images of their beautifully real, chaotic experience of motherhood.
• The digital aspect and also the allowance of mothers to upload their own images allows Dove’s campaign to be reached by women on a global scale.
• The campaign consisted of:

  • A 360 degree photo library of the real mothers.
  • A 10 second video.
  • Print campaign which consisted of six real mothers from a variety of different backgrounds.
  • Audience participation via the hashtag.
• Ethnicity is represented positively, celebrating and reflecting today’s multicultural society
• Represents an Asian family, an often under-represented group in the media. This challenges the historical dominance of white representation in beauty advertisements.
• The mise-en-scene in the advert connotes a middle class lifestyle and breaks down societal barriers by suggesting that middle class can live chaotic and unorganised lives.