“Do we love our skin …” vs. “Because you’re a man” are two very different slogans that come from commercials both advertising Dove’s skin care line.
While some people may have been too enthralled by the game to pay close attention when Dove’s Super Bowl commercial was broadcast, many such as myself who agree that Super Bowl commercials are the best of the entire year. Therefore, people like me tend be more attentive.
The commercial I am referring to is “The Journey to Comfort,” advertising Dove: For Men. It basically outlined the “typical” life of a man from conception to marriage and a family of his own. The last line alludes to the fact that “You can conquer the world, because you are a man.”
The end of the commercial was indeed a shock when audiences found out that this was a commercial for Dove and the final line was “Be comfortable in your own skin.”
Some people would call this commercial sexist because of the idea that men rule the world. This idea has been around for centuries and has been scrutinized for almost as long. However, has Dove become one of the supporters of this idea?
In previous commercials, the Dove campaigns were noticeably directed more toward women. An earlier commercial featured women of all ages, shapes, and sizes wearing just plain white underwear and basically showing off their skin. There was a song playing and the last line was “If we would let nourishment in, oh how we’d love our skin.”
Another commercial, which was actually my second favorite, mocked the criticisms that many women place on themselves when looking in the mirror every morning. The title of the song was “Do Your Eyes Sit Wide.” For many, this gave a bit of a confidence boost to women due to the fact that we all have flaws that we would like to change about ourselves; nonetheless, our flaws make us unique.
After discussing these commercials, I am sure many of you would be appalled and want to discuss how sexist Dove has become because of their insensitivity toward women. However, others could call them sexist because of their earlier commercials appealing more to women instead of men. I submit the question: Was Dove really trying to be sexist, were they trying to make everyone “be comfortable in their own skin” or were they just trying to sell a product?
I am willing to bet the last option is indeed the right answer. However, the manner in which they try to sell the product is questionable for most. Could it be that Dove was just trying to encourage everyone to feel good and not conform to what society has deemed the perfect body, hair, skin, lifestyle, etc.?
For years, Dove has dedicated most of its campaigns toward attracting women to their products. Nevertheless, it is only now that people are calling them sexist. Has anyone thought about Dove being sexist toward men because of their earlier commercials? Maybe there should have been men holding up signs and boycotting Dove products because there were not any commercials that spoke to them until now.
For the most part I thought the commercial was hilarious. It was so random and funny, I didn’t even stop to think about whether it was offensive or not. Nevertheless, I have heard people comment on how offensive the last part was. Sometimes I wonder if people will ever just learn to laugh at certain things that are supposedly offensive. Maybe if we laughed about them more, they would not carry as much power.
Terrisha Buckley is a junior majoring in animal and dairy science. She can be contacted at [email protected].
Watch Dove’s commercial “The Journey to Comfort” at youtube.com/watch?v=IuexzKkMIDc.