http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwDEF-w4rJk

God, crysmal, I hate to break it to you, but as much as Dove is doing great things here in the United States, they are owned by the same company, Unilever, that manufactures Axe & one of the world's most popular skin whitening creams known as Fair & Lovely. Here's a commercial for Fair & Lovely that have run in the Middle East, with blatant sexism & racism all rolled up into one neat little thirty second package.
Therefore, I fucking hate Univlever for making a profit off promoting 'real beauty' when many of their same products & advertising have contributed to the problem of low self-esteem among women and fucked up images of women in the media!

Yeah, as cute as these ads are they're still advertising beautifying products. I mean, if we're all so beautiful already why do we need Dove to make our skin silky and smooth? Am I just being really skeptical here?

The idea/concept = fantastic

The company/products doing it = not so fantastic.

I just find that a name that sells "firming lotion" and "tanning lotion" who also totes themselves as promoting self-esteem hypocritical and bass-ackwards. Props to someone having the courage to create an ad and a campaign like that, although it needs to come from a different group, and a different company who isn't trying to convince me (on a shelf) that my slightly untoned thighs, and my tummy that sags a little are unsightly and need to be fixed.

Does anyone know who Crysmal is? Could he/she honestly not be an employee of Unilever trying to sell us all some more over-priced petroleum-based products on the false assumption that their brand is somehow "different" and/or "on our side"?

I have written, at length about Dove's insidious marketing strategies here.

Cruella, I can assure you that I'm definitely not working for Unilever... I just really hoped that a company had decided to try to do something good! Truthfully, I had no idea that Dove was owned by the company. I did know that some of Dove's products seemed contradictory to their ads, but to me, the fact that they are at least recognizing that something's screwed up somewhere along the line is at least a step in the right direction. Worthy of the praise I gave it? Apparently not. But like I said, I still admire the concept, and appreciate you guys (Cruella, bleachandink, JaneDone, radhika and Corey Allen) letting me know what's up. Too bad :(

radhika, that Fair and Lovely commercial is AWFUL. So, so, so awful. Wow.

I have really freaky skin and the only products that really work for me are from Dove. I am saddened to find out that the company that owns Dove has other products that are despicable. Can never win can we?

gah - i loved the "Onslaught" campaign as well.

there's also an Asian version of the "Fair and Lovely" campaign here, and one for India here - can't find an english version for that one, but the message is plain.

a different company has "Fair and Handsome" for men, as well.