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Dove looks for 'flawless' women on Craigslist

By Kasie Davies on Wednesday 30 June 2010

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Dove beauty advert

For the past six years, Dove has become famous for its 'Real Beauty' campaign featuring 'real women' with real curves.

But their positive image and refreshing principles came under threat this month when a rogue advertisement appeared on Craigslist, appealing to women with 'flawless skin, no tattoos or scars' to take part in a New York photo-shoot.

A spokesperson of Dove says: 'Unfortunately, this casting notice was not approved by the brand or agency team and did not reflect the spirit of the brand team's vision.

'We appreciate that this has been brought to our attention, and we are taking the necessary steps to prevent this from happening in the future.'

Although the casting call made it clear that Dove is looking for non-professionals, the requirements were relatively strict and specific.

At one point, the American ad insisted women must be ‘well groomed and clean...Nice Bodies...NATURALLY FIT. Not too curvy, not too athletic.'

Dove's spokesman continues: ‘We believe our images demonstrate that real beauty comes in many shapes, sizes, colours and ages and we remain committed to featuring realistic and attainable images of beauty in all our advertising.'

Media commentators have remarked that an advert written almost entirely in CAPS and exclamation marks, as this one was, can't be taken too seriously.

How do you feel about Dove's iconic campaign and how it is effecting female body image? Should other brands be following their lead, or do you believe that slim and pretty models will always take precedence?

Whatever your opinion, Marie Claire wants to hear from you by posting a comment below.

Wednesday 30 June 2010

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I think Dove's vision is a great idea because there are so many women who consider themselves to be plain when, in reality, they are stunning and I hope that more people are taking this into consideration. I remember watching one of the older Dove advertisements for an anti-ageing body lotion in which a mature woman with a few wrinkles on her face was modelling and my initial reaction was shock as I actually didn't think she looked good (this is coming from someone who had always considered herself far less superficial than a lot of people) but this ad has helped me to see that wrinkles are a natural development and we will all get them in the future so I was enabled to see the beauty of this woman. It just goes to show just how powerful these ad campaigns are. The only thing I don't like about it is that naturally slim woman are now facing the brunt of prejudice and made to feel bad just because we can't gain weight and curves as easily as everyone else. It's unfair, why should we be made to feel bad and feel alienated from the beauty campaigns directed at "real women" because we apparently are nothing like them because apparently curves equate to maturity! That is b******t because emotional maturity comes from being a good, strong, independent person with good intentions regardless of what you look like. I hope the younger people reading this will take it on board. And I also wanted to say that with shows, such as, America's Next Top Model and Britain's Next Top Model in the limelight, I wouldn't predict a major movement in the fashion industry to be more inclusive of plus-size models.
Comment by Gia on July 13 13:54