EP. 12: DEAR DOVE

EP. 12: If Dove is so big on its Real Beauty Campaign - and I’m so big on real beauty, why do I think it’s time to wash Dove’s mouth out with soap? Great Question. I’d love to tell you!

I mean, is Dove about “real beauty” - or - real B.S.?

On one hand, you have this campaign that has such a positive message: Let’s change women’s attitudes toward their harmful perception of beauty. On the other hand, there’s kinda a conflicting goal here. You know … to sell beauty products and increase sales. And on the third hand, here is my open letter to Dove. Hey, if Dove can have multiple faces, we can also have multiple hands here.

Look, back when Dove created its Real Beauty Campaign, I created Bye-Bye, Barbie! - a program to help young girls rip apart these unhealthy social constructs and recreate what beauty is to each one of them. And here’s Dove, selling these girls self-esteem. A brand - whose bottom line has grown from less than $1-billion a year to more than $5.1-billion year, since the birth of its campaign - talking directly to our children. A beauty brand with some very ugly behind-the-scenes details you need to hear about. Details you will learn about in this podcast.

Also, if you missed EPISODE 11: HARASSHOLES, you may want to check that out. Considering how Dove piggybacked its #KeepItGrey blitz off that debacle - a debacle in which a 58-year-old, grey-haired national TV anchor just lost her job at the height of her career.

This newspaper article date back to about the time Dove started its Real Beauty Campaign, and when I was leading my Bye-Bye, Barbie workshop. A workshop to help deconstruct the manufactured ideals of beauty and redefine it - according to how each girl sees it.