Variations on a Theme
Our minds betray us
into thinking we are more
. . . or less, more or less
*
Two haiku inspired by
You Are Less Beautiful Than You Think
Dove’s viral video gets it wrong
By Ozgun Atasoy
Here’s a tiny preview. Click on the title for the entire fascinating article (well, at least I find it fascinating):
Let’s Face It
In a Dove soap video “. . . a small group of women are asked to describe their faces to a person whom they cannot see. The person is a forensic artist who draws pictures of the women based on their verbal descriptions. A curtain separates the artist and the women, and they never see each other.”
“Before all this, each woman is asked to socialize with a stranger, who later separately describes the woman to the forensic artist. In the end, the women are shown the two drawings, one based on their own description, the other based on the stranger’s description.”
“Much to their amazement and delight, the women realize that the drawings based on strangers’ descriptions depict much more beautiful women. The video ends: “You are more beautiful than you think.”’
“The evidence from psychological research suggests otherwise! Instead, we tend to think of our appearance in ways that are more flattering than are warranted. This seems to be part of a broader human tendency to see ourselves through rose-colored glasses. Most of us think that we are better than we actually are — not just physically, but in every way.”
“Dove’s premise is wrong. But thinking we are more beautiful than we really are may not be such a bad thing.”
Perception stymies
Does it matter more . . . or less?
Perhaps not at all?
CURIOUS to the MAX 
I am what I am and I love the way I am!! 😉 No chance of any betrayal here!! 🙂
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wow! such a nice way of looking betrayal… of course we betray ourself by demeaning our own sense of beauty.. and lovely dove example thank you for sharing it 🙂
Richa
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Wonderfully deep haiku. very much thought-provoking. i would want to think taht we are beautiful than we think; we are more than we think we are. But it is always better to be modest and humble, letting our actions speak for us and letting others be the judge. 🙂
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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Who has the arbitrary role of making these decisions about beauty talent truth etc.and what are they really worth ? The media, journalists, the law makers,politicians, medical professionals, academics? I take my advice from philosophers mainly the dead ones (only the ones I agree with of course:)
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The advertisements always mislead us into thinking and reacting exactly the way the brands are benefitted… Each of us are as real and as beautiful as we feel we are…In the end its all in the mind as you rightly summed up so well in your Haiku Gemma…
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Sorry about the wrong name, I meant Judith, forgive my slip-up 😛
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Reshma,
NO apology necessary – being called Gemma is a compliment based on her talent and haiku!
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Interesting take on the prompt and I have mixed feelings about those ads. Very thought provoking.
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Sounds a bit too clever for me!
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Hello Judy Judith,
I’d feel a whole lot better about all Dove marketing campaigns if they weren’t just that: marketing campaigns.
Make no mistake: behind the company’s wildly popular “Real Women” and “Beautiful” ads is the need to maximize sales of their lotions and potions to reduce our ugly cellulite and minimize our ugly wrinkles and soften our ugly dry skin.
It’s brilliant really. When the “Real Women” campaign first launched, for example, European sales of Dove’s skin firming products increased by 700%. And that campaign’s 2004 sales topped $1 billion in its first year. We are still lining up like sheep to buy Dove products that somehow appeal to the very insecurity that Dove purports to condemn! But according to the Ozgun Atasoy piece, maybe Dove should be telling the truth: “You’re just not that great!”
I wrote more on Dove marketing three years ago in: “If We’re Beautiful Just The Way We Are, Why Do Those Dove ‘Real Beauty’ Ads Tell Us We Need To Buy Their Skin-Firming Creams?” – http://ethicalnag.org/2010/05/08/dove-real-beauty/
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Carolyn,
700% sales increase! If only the marketing genius got behind spreading information about heart disease . . .
Carolyn, Please send the link to your post. I couldn’t find it on your blog.
TO ALL:
Carolyn’s blog http://myheartsisters.org/ can save lives. Perhaps yours. I highly recommend it.
jJ
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I included the Dove link in my comment above: http://ethicalnag.org/2010/05/08/dove-real-beauty/ P.S. Thx for the nice plug! 🙂
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I love you two ladies but I am a full fledged, gullible individual who APPLAUDED Dove’s campgain that Women come in all sizes.And, that all of them are good. Marketing? Perhaps. But, Acknowledging and Accepting ALSO. It’s a step. Perhaps there could be a marriage of these commercials and the quote from Carolyn’s blog. I say: Genius. Did you two ever see my two “artistic challenges” it was on Facebook? Love, Laurie, PK JR
PS For those of you who follow my blog, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Carolyn’s blog
http://myheartsisters.org/ You already know I love Judith’s blog.
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Laurie,
ALMOST NEVER, EVER go to facebook (even tho my blog posts apparently get posted there – not sure how?!!!) but I’ll check.
Now if you posted them on YOUR blog . . . which I also recommend!!! . . .
P.S. I wonder if there is too much emphasis on how EVERYONE is beautiful. I think it ain’t so based on how we behave at times – me included.
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Don’t yell at me…..I was full of anesthesia and remember NOTHING about posting on your facebook or anywhere else. what did I do? where did I put it? I put the above on Facebook? Where is your blog? I am so confused. I wrote mine here after Carolyn’s blog. HELP.
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Laurie,
At least you have an excuse for your confusion. As for me I’m fully conscious (so they say). So being (fully) conscious now I have to blame you for my confusion. I wouldn’t know if you pasted on my Facebook page since I never (rarely) go there.
My next post will be “Betrayal? You Are Less Conscious Than You THink” Wonder if I should call Dove?
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but with all that, did you see the two drawings I sent you? Love, PK JR.
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Nope, didn’t get them!
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Look on MY FB page.
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