To Dove, or Not to Dove: That is the Question.

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The search and agony of finding a new example,
Or to take the one Lipton provided,
And be greateful for the gift I was given?

It was like Lipton was speaking directly to me when he made the comment in class about choosing our paper topics. I knew picking women represented in advertising as sex objects that are unrealistically thin was an easy direction to take for the assignment. I felt caught; guilty; but he gave me a little more perspective of where to go with the assignment. He brought up the Dove campaigns, which embarrassingly enough, I knew nothing about. (Justification: I’ve been living on a cruise ship for the past 4 years!) Thanks to You Tube I was able to watch a couple of their controversial commercials, and am definitely left with something to think about.

Although Lipton might have scared us all by explaining the relevance of this paper, he lightened the stress factor by explaining there is no wrong topic, and encouraged us to choose a topic that’s important to us; you know, really make it our own. I have difficulty defining my values. I believe they are constantly evolving, paralleling your life experiences. A little while back when reading one of Anthony Robbins’s books, I almost felt like I was being bullied having to write down a clear-cut list of my values. I do believe your values are important to establish, but right now, I prefer to think about what excites me, and what/who I want to have in my life. Being happy, well off, finding love, developing my passions, and creating new ones, having great relationships with friends and family are all important to me. My boyfriend first hand will know that lying, and people who lie, really nerve me. I have no tolerance for fibs, little lies, big lies, even exaggerators; any fabrication of truth does not sit well with me.

I’m pretty sure one prominent message I’ve learned throughout our mass communication class is that everything is a lie. It started with learning about language as a written alphabet. Images of things cannot represent what it really is. Giving a face to feeling is a lie. “There is no such thing as love,” Lipton says. Images fool us. Advertisements offer us unrealistic promises. News, is not trustworthy as it often has had some sort of spin put on it. You can never be quite sure the information on the Internet is credible. Growing from the thought of propaganda, the Public Relations industry has boomed, and works invisibly to sway our opinions and thoughts. Has my mom been right all along telling me that she is the only person I can trust? But how can I trust her, when she’s living in a world of universal demented thought, which leaves me to the question, “Can I trust my own self?”



I REALLY liked the Dove Pro Age commercial. It had a touching message. Instead of focusing on “anti aging” which has a negative underlining tone, this ad describes itself as “pro age.” It was quite refreshing to see average looking people in the commercial. It was refused airtime, or it was taken off, because of the nudity, which I think is ridiculous. Out of all the crap on television this would have to be the least harmful thing. If anything, this should be considered art. All the posing is natural, yet still covers everything that should be covered. I personally enjoyed this commercial and am wondering how it got turned down. Maybe the move towards a more real look at the beauty industry scared the powers above. Of course people would prefer to see reality, but is reality really entertaining? More importantly, is reality going to sell the product? Showing bigger women on tv means it will soon be acceptable. That coincides with a huge money making industry, based on women wanting to loose weight.

Now I’m left to decide if I use this example in my very important paper. Lipton suggested it. Ideally I would have liked find my own example. On one hand, knowing that he suggested it shows it’s a good example, and would hopefully lead to a “good” paper. On the other hand, I know he’s seen the commercial and obviously has his own thoughts. Will I even come close to as thorough of analysis of Dove’s Pro-Age commercial as Lipton has? Oh the pressure. Lipton stresses to write our papers without him in mind, so that’s what I’ll do. Not that I am one of those people he talked about that would pick a topic to specifically please him. I can’t really see how, or why anyone would do that. Of course he’s marking your paper, your critical thinking, not if you believe in gay marriage or not.