Real Beauty is anything but
On trips to Shibuya on separate occasions over the past two weekends, two visitors from abroad — my friend Josh and Judy’s mother — both commented on a particular billboard currently on display on the side of Tokyu department store. The billboard in question, which I had hitherto paid little notice, is an advertisement for Unilever’s Dove brand featuring a group of Japanese women in their underwear.
“Old news, chump,” I hear you say. Yes, Dove has been running their “Campaign for Real Beauty” in the States for over a year now, and although I read about the hubbub that it caused at the time, as far as I know it didn’t make its way over to these shores until recently.
For those who may not be familiar with Dove’s campaign, it was originally launched with a series of ads featuring “regular” woman of varying sizes and ethnicities cheerfully posing in plain white underwear (it has since expanded in scope, apparently). According to Dove’s website:
For too long, beauty has been defined by narrow, stifling stereotypes. Women have told us it’s time to change all that. Dove agrees. We believe real beauty comes in many shapes, sizes and ages. That is why Dove is launching the Campaign for Real Beauty.
Dove’s global Campaign for Real Beauty aims to change the status quo and offer in its place a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty. A view of beauty that all women can own and enjoy everyday.
Here is a picture of one such ad shown in the US:
As you can see, there are women of different sizes, shapes and colors. One of them even has a prominent tattoo. Of course, not all ethnicities are represented (where’s the love for the Asian fatties?), and the women aren’t that big given today’s widespread obesity, but it’s an interesting campaign that brings attention important issues such as body image, ideals of feminine beauty as portrayed in the media, and so on.
Now let’s take a look an ad from Dove Japan’s “Real Beauty” campaign:
Hmmm… Women of different sizes? No. Shapes? No. Colors? No (unless you count the towels they’re holding, anyhow). As far as I can tell, the only obvious differences between the seven women are their hairstyles. And I can’t even imagine what sort of sick, misogynistic individual would even for a moment consider those women to be anything other than thin. They may not be models, as Dove purports, but they’re certainly not representative of the average Japanese woman (as much we might wish they were).
To be fair to Dove, though, the focus of the Japanese campaign is a teensy bit different than that of the American one. Rather than “Real women have real curves,” the Japanese slogan is (roughly) “I won’t hide my skin anymore.” The intended message, obviously, is that Japanese women should feel proud of their appearance and have confidence in themselves, even if they don’t conform to society’s image of beauty.
Of course, it seems that Unilever Japan did their market research and realized that if they came out with a campaign in featuring “fuller-figured” women, they would be immediately labeled as the brand for fatso’s and would thereupon lose any hope of appealing to fickle, extremely brand-conscious Japanese consumers. So, rather than “real women,” the Japanese public gets “women who are not models, but who are thinner and more attractive than 95% of the female population.” Interesting, to say the least.
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wow, nice find, and perfect timing, as I was just writing last night about Dove’s campaign and some survey results about Japanese women that I found at their campaign site (http://www.easterwood.org/hmmn/?p=536). Dove did indeed do their research, and probably realized that given the ridiculously low level of self-esteem, they were fighting a losing battle and therefore opted for a path of least resistance.
Comment by Kurt — 6/3/2006 @ 1:26 am
I’m not sure I agree with you on this Jeff… From what I saw while I was Japan, I would say that the women on the billboard where (at least their BODIES) a somewhat accurate representation of the broad portion of the statistic graph. Obese women are quite rare, and most women are thinner than they allow themselves to acknowledge, I think.
Maybe the ad is keeping its original spirit but for a slight japanese adaptation: “Realize that you are not as fat as you think, and that your body looks something like this”.
And about the different colors…Considering the 1/100 ratio between japanese and foreigners in Japan I don’t find the ad to be misleading. Maybe they can put a gaijin’s toe or something to be more accurate, haha.
Comment by Oscar — 6/3/2006 @ 2:19 pm
Just a random passerby…
I agree with the above poster (Oscar) 100%; while these women may be thin according to Western standards, as a woman living in Japan (but not a Japanese woman, I must note!!) I think these girls are representative of the typical Japanese female.
The Japanese campaign is focusing on the same problem within a different society, thusly changing it’s strategy to fit a different set of standards. I’d say it’s actually a good thing to have only Japanese women in the ads when you consider the ratio of foreigners compared to Japanese used in advertising here.
Comment by sarah — 6/3/2006 @ 8:57 pm
If you actually go to the mydove website, you’ll see that only 3 of the women are Japanese and the rest are either Chinese or Korean. Just because they happen to have similar skin color doesn’t mean they’re from the same ethnic group.
Also their age ranges from 23 to 46, so they’re not all young models. These women aren’t fat, but they’re not skinny like models either.
Comment by riona — 6/4/2006 @ 1:39 pm
Yup, being a frequent traveller to Japan (especialy Kansai area), I too think that there are less cases of female obesity there.
However, what tickled me about the Japanese ad were that the girls are wearing humongous underwear! I guess Dove didn’t want to come through as too ecchi either! Heh.
Comment by Alvin — 6/4/2006 @ 2:05 pm
Yeah… now that Sarah mentions it, I always wondered why there were soo many foreigners displayed on japanese ads (specially cars…what’s the link?)
Just a thought…
Comment by Oscar — 6/4/2006 @ 2:52 pm
A point about the American ad: While obviously those aren’t all the shapes and sizes of America, it’d be stupid for Dove (or other companies) to show obese women. Dove is promoting all shapes and sizes of healthy women. In fact, I’d say that Dove, in a way, is saying “to be healthy” is to be naturally beautiful and vice-versa.
On a side note, too, I’m sure I’m not the only person who doesn’t want to see a fat cow in a bikini. God, I sometimes eat dinner in front of the television and all…
Comment by Lelia Katherine Thomas — 6/5/2006 @ 9:52 am
A lot of good discussion here. I certainly agree that Japanese women are, on average, considerably thinner than their Western counterparts, however I just think it would have been nice for Dove to include a little bit more diversity among the women in the ad. For example: height, weight, skin tone (which is what I was referring to by “color”), etc. The women do vary in age, although I’m not sure most 46-year-old Japanese women look like that.
I don’t think Dove should necessarily have to include non-Japanese women in the ads, since the country is relatively homogenous, however they do deserve some praise for including three Korean women, as Riona pointed out; although, in all honesty, without visiting the website and reading the profiles, I doubt many would realize that not all of the women are Japanese. (It’s also interesting to note that on the website, the non-Japanese women’s data lists only their name, age and occupation, whereas the Japanese women each have an entire paragraph devoted to them.)
I guess what it comes down to is that Dove was going for a different strategy in Japan, as others have commented above. However, I personally don’t think they should have abandoned the diversity angle for a representation of what Japanese society might consider to be the “average” woman. Despite what is shown in the media, there is diversity and variation among women here, and I think this is something that should be appreciated rather than ignored.
Lastly, for the record, it appears that the great nation of Canada may have the most diverse ad. Yay Canada!
Comment by jeff — 6/7/2006 @ 12:09 pm
Wait a second. Why are the women in the Canadian ad the fattest group of them all?
Man, you club one too many baby seals and soon the rest of the world is jumping all over you…
Comment by CS — 6/8/2006 @ 12:45 am
Um … these women are about average for Japanese women. Hell, average for China and Korea too. If you’re looking for an average size, then that’s it for East Asian countries. Skin might be a bit better than average though.
Comment by Mark — 6/8/2006 @ 4:13 pm
Um. . . I think that’s already been established, Mark.
Dove’s campaign in Western countries seems to be focused on embracing diversity and representing “real” women, rather than the more idealistic images of women generally portrayed in the media.
The Japanese campaign, however, seems to be focused more on representing the “average” woman instead (regardless of whether the women represented are in fact “average” in body type, skin tone, etc.).
You can see some examples of the diversity amongst Japanese women (albeit leaning towards the more attractive) at the Portraits of Japanese Women Flickr group.
Comment by jeff — 6/14/2006 @ 12:15 pm
I believe that Dove has an excellent idea of promoting “Real Beauty” –however, I truly believe the advertisements need to be tweeked a little so that ” real women” are getting positive verbal and physical interactive attention from their “real men” counter parts. Unfortunately, we will never see ourselves as God Himself made us and will always be seeking other’s approval–however, a kind, sincere “non-sexual” compliment to someone (male or female) is the surest way to attact stereotyping. “Hey, if I said if your body looks you use Dove…Would you hold it against me?” (just kidding) but seriously–just say something kind to someone(even those you don’t like) and see the change—Hmmm, Maybe I will start my own “Keep the “Change” campaign.
Christie
Comment by chris — 6/15/2006 @ 11:11 pm
I guess I’m a late voice to this post.
When I moved back to the US, it was when Dove had just rolled out their natural beauty campaign and I was impressed. I also thought it was a great move, showing very attractive, yet normally sized women.
Seeing the one in Japan on a recent trip back, I’m not as critical as some. I thought the women looked like average Japanese and Korean women to me. Honestly, average Japanese women to me look like that. Just like average American women looking like the ones in the US one.
As for the diversity… ergh. I’m sorry, walking down the streets of Tokyo, it is 90% Japanese, and maybe an occasional Korean or Chinese face once in a while.
I thought the campaigns were consistent, though yes, the American one had more of an impact as there is more of a gap between the average American woman and American model.
Just my $0.02
Best,
-Jason
Comment by Jason Cha — 6/25/2006 @ 9:44 am