You have probably noticed that Dove, Nike, and other advertisers are airing commercials which feature real people rather than actors (who, as we all know, are not real people.) Dove’s Real Beauty campaign is a prime example, with six average 
women parading around in undergarments. All are attractive, but none is your comely health and beauty aid body model. Philippe Harousseau, director of marketing for Dove believes the campaign is a celebration of the authentic representation of beauty. "The majority of women think that the images surrounding them offer someone else's narrow definition of what ‘beautiful’ is and assumes an inherent dissatisfaction with a woman's own beauty," he says.
Of course, advertising industry veterans disagree. "Using the average person won't sell anything," says Gerald Celente, director and founder of Trends Research Institute, a consultancy. "The purpose of advertising is to create desire beyond what the product can actually deliver. Do you want to see the floppy Big Mac that the fast food worker actually packages up and hands to you, or the perfect airbrushed billboard version? People are living lives of desperation; they don't want to be themselves."
CMO Magazine has more barbs, pro and con. Marketing Blurb understands the merit of both approaches, and since we are not the target audience for the Dove campaign will wait for sales results to provide some direction. But, to proponents of either camp, we can say "ignore what women want at your own peril." Photo Credit: CMO Magazine
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