Does a woman have to be ultra-slim to be beautiful? Of course not, as this photo from Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty shows. It also shows that a beautiful woman doesn't have to be white, doesn't have to be young and doesn't have to have feet.
We may see more women like these in ads, especially if advertisers pay attention to new research and stop drooling over that runway model who once surprised her boyfriend by popping out of the toaster.
The advertising world's perennial reliance on young, white and extremely thin models has long faced criticism from feminists and health campaigners. Now, new research at a leading UK business school suggests it might be doing something else: harming companies' balance sheets.
In what is believed to be the first such global survey of female consumers' attitudes, the research says women respond more favourably to a brand if the models it uses somehow mirror their own identities.
Advertisers cannot, however, simply enlist a few fuller-figured models, says Ben Barry, who is carrying out the research at Cambridge University's Judge business school: "In general, people have a more favourable reaction to brands that show models who represent people's age, size and background.
"It's not necessarily enough to show one component which is similar - people really wanted to see someone who represents them in all three factors." [Link]
Yeah, but there are so many ages, sizes and backgrounds. Even if an ad features the "real" women in the picture above, there'd still be lots of other "real" women who wouldn't be represented.
For example, I don't see a woman with lots of extra baggage.
I don't see a woman with a large figure.
And I don't see a woman with a big ass.
Great examples, indeed!
Posted by: Ratan | January 11, 2009 at 11:31 AM
pictures at the end of your blog made me smile, thank you. :)
Posted by: Sarah | January 15, 2009 at 06:06 PM