For years, Dove has been one of the leading corporate voices calling out dangerous toxic beauty standards for women. They are everywhere in modern culture. Women and girls are constantly bombarded with images displaying unrealistic beauty standards that are simply impossible to live up to.
It is so bad, in fact, that a few years ago, teenage girls in the United States injected themselves with Botox and other chemicals more than 50,000 times over the course of the year, all in an attempt to try and live up to those unrealistic standards of female beauty that are ubiquitous in our advertising.
Fifty thousand times. In a single country. In a single year.
Dove has been pushing back, and one of the ways they did that was to make this evocative billboard. The image is formed from fifty thousand syringes and seeks to call attention to the dangerous trend.
How successful Dove’s awareness campaign has been is subject to debate, but there’s no denying that the company has taken a stand, and that it has endeared them to their customer base.
There’s a lesson in that. A lesson that’s applicable to most any industry because somewhere, in the dark corners of whatever business you’re in, there is dysfunction. Come out strongly against it, and show consumers a better way and they’ll rally around you. This is where the lines between advertising and activism begin to blur, and it is an interesting place to be indeed.
If you’re struggling to find your next big idea, we’re here to help! Just call 404-671-9490. We’d love the opportunity to help take your advertising game to the next level. Let us help you create an ad campaign that will be talked about for months to come.