Lied to ...again

Ogilvy and Mather has earned many a plaudit for the thinking behind Dove ‘s Campaign for real Beauty.   

And kudos too to the brand owners Unilever for going with the contrarian position.

BUT now it seems that the whole thing lacked true authenticity. And consumers have been lied to again.

Those images of supposedly real women had been extensively retouched to make them “poster ready”  attractive. 

Advertising Age  reports that Pascal Dangin, master retoucher (I think poseur speak for DI artist) in an interview with the New Yorker , spills the beans that they had been heavily “improved”

"I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual 'real women' in their undergarments," wrote Lauren Collins in the New Yorker article. "It turned out that it was a Dangin job. 'Do you know how much retouching was on that?' he asked. 'But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone's skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.'"

What a pity the brand could not truly embrace the position and that O&M actually simply did more of the same by serving up retouched unreal images to sell a product.

Just watch for the backlash from duped consumers who feel let down by a brand that did not walk the talk.

Comments

[John Bell]

Simply put - you have it all wrong.

The photos were not retouched. The brand came out with a clear statement about it ableit a little late for the speed of our digital world.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=126945

Be careful not to be too quick to jump on the bandwagon ultimately fueled by trade press' need to sell papers. While I did not work on the Dove campaign, I strongly believe their heart and their practice was firmly where it needed to be - challenging the media's portrayal of women's beauty. As a father of a "beautiful" 10 year old daughter, I am grateful for what a traditional advertiser did to challenge status quo.