2 Oct
Onslaught - A Dove Film
As you know from my impassioned defense of Britney Spears’ waistline a few weeks ago, I am a father who is deeply concerned about my girls and the relationship they well eventually have with their bodies. My lovely wife and I have both struggled for years with our weight and we are making every effort to overcome that struggle so we can be positive role models.
On the other end of that spectrum is societal pressure for young girls to be thin and to dress and act too sexy at way too young an age. My girls are not quite 2 years old, so hopefully I have some time before these become issues we have to face.
Regardless, this new ad from Dove really hit home.
As someone who works in the ad industry it would be very easy to take a cynical look at this ad… but as a father I applaud Dove for what they are trying to do. Especially if it helps start a dialog about unhealthy stereotypes.
The Real Beauty Campaign in general has taken a pretty honest approach at dealing with womens bodies. And it has done it in a non-glorified, non-self congratulatory way that I admire. It’s like the United Colors of Benetton ads for female body image. I don’t know if these ads are breaking through into the collective conscious, but it is a good start.
I am glad to see they are extending this campaign to reach out to parents . I really like the tag line: “Talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does.” I encourage all you parents to take a few seconds to head over to The Campaign For Real Beauty site and
check out some of the materials they have there for talking to your daughters about body image.
And Dad’s don’t shy away from this subject. This is not “woman’s work”. Your daughters look up to you and value your opinions. You can add a very valuable perspective to this dialog. Man up and do it.
Tony
10/2: 231.4 lbs.
Goal: 220 lbs.
11.4 lbs. to go
p.s. I am fully aware that I am getting sucked into perpetuating a viral marketing campaign…just like Dove wants. But again, if it starts a positive dialog, I could care less about being someones shill.
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