entertainment

Dove’s 'Real Beauty' commercial a big hit in Japan

12 Comments
By Preston Phro

It’s hard to deny that a bit of sexiness goes a long way in boosting sales. Even something as boring as shampoo can seem exciting when you film a young, perky model showering.

Of course, not everyone thinks that this is the best way to hock merchandise. Last year Dove earned a bit of respect from consumers with their “Real Beauty” campaign aimed at bolstering women’s self-images and emphasizing seeing the natural beauty we all have. Though the main commercial hit the shores of Japan last spring, it seems that it’s recently gotten a lot of attention over here.

The specific commercial in question features a one-time forensic artist who once worked for the FBI. The artist asked various women to describe themselves, producing illustrations based on their descriptions. After that, the artist then talked with strangers who had just met the women and produced illustrations based on their descriptions. In the end, for each woman, two drawings were made: One showing how they viewed themselves and one showing how others viewed them.

As you may expect, the drawing based on the women’s descriptions of themselves were not nearly as flattering as those based on descriptions from others. The message seems to be clear: Many women are too caught up in negative images of themselves to see their own beauty. Whether this simple experiment will actually improve anyone’s self-image, we can’t say, but we’re certainly happy to see some positive reinforcement.

So, how did Japanese commenters react to this very Western commercial?

"Well, after the women found fault with themselves, the artist, knowing the concept of the commercial would obviously make the later drawings more attractive, wouldn’t he?"

"I always used to wonder how people around me viewed me, but after watching this, I felt like I needed to like both my strengths and shortcomings. What a great video."

"This is so moving, I actually cried. The things I thought were worst about myself, other people don’t even notice. I hated myself, but others see me in a positive light. It made me realize the difference between how I value myself and how others do."

"I cried. Hard."

"I thought it was an excellent commercial."

"I absolutely love this movie [sic]."

"The point is if you change the direction of your thinking just a little, you can find happiness."

"This showed up as one of YouTube’s commercials that play before other videos, but without even realizing it, I watched the whole thing. It put a smile on my face. Well, if we’re honest though, this is a commercial for a cosmetics company…but there’s not really any “sales” in the video. This kind of commercial is really sophisticated."

"This is the first commercial I haven’t skipped on YouTube."

Overall, Japanese commenters seemed to be really taken with the video.

Source/images: YouTube

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12 Comments
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A thoughtful video. I don't know whether it falls into the category of an ad, but it does bring Dove well deserved attention.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Of course, not everyone thinks that this is the best way to hock merchandise.

(I think that should be 'hawk')

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Actually, to hock something is to pawn it, so the word was correct, but it was not used very well. You could say that you're, "pawning (hocking) something off to someone," meaning you're getting rid of it.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

Dove is selling soaps etc not pawning them :-) and therefore they are 'hawking' merchandise.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

That's a really long commercial.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

They often do that shoot a long one that gets cut/edited into several shorter ones that are broadcast as a series.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I always thought the best commercials are those that don't sell products. The best commercials are those that sell ideas. Of course, all these are to drive sales of products, but still, imho, it's very respectable for Dove to come up with such an idea, it tells you that the company in its quest for sales and profit can still retain its humanity.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

More like 'it found an effective messaging technique that other brands didn't (and still don't) address'. It's all just marketing and if Dove needed to shed its 'humanity' to sell more products, they probably would.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I've thought commercials were fun, creative, exciting, interesting even artsy and edgy before.

But never, like, good.

I just wish they had longer shots of more of the women with their two sketches next to their real face so we could compare and really see it more deeply.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Even something as boring as shampoo can seem exciting when you film a young, perky model showering.

Ya reckon?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

(I think that should be 'hawk')

Only if you're from New Yawk. :)

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Yes, it was maybe a little manipulative, and obviously they want to sell Dove products, but if it can help some women feel better about themselves that has to be a good thing.

The spoof commercial for men however..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Jiwo3u6Vo

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

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