The above image is from the back of this month's Reader's Digest. It's an ad for Dove soap.
For a minute, I thought it was an ad for Jagermeister. Or maybe Spring Break in Daytona.
But, actually, it's an ad for Dove soap! The soap that gives babysitters the confidence to take off their tops! Yay!
Egads - what a lousy concept and one that definitely should have been the sign that the agency's Creative Jam was done for the day. The subcopy reads: "We applaud women with courage and self-esteem."
There are men who'd applaud that woman (click the headline and go to her website) but they usually do it waving $20's to the Motley Crue tune, "Girls, Girls, Girls!"
Trust me, I get the intentions of this ad - that Dove is a brand that can help women break free of stereotypes of body image blah blah blah blah... But putting HER in THAT getup with THAT grin and THAT pose doesn't say "Fabulous" or "Confidence." It says "This sorority is about to get a lawsuit."
Maybe I'd find this ad more alluring if I just didn't happen to have a daughter that I'm trying to lead to a definition of "Fabulous" and "Confidence" that has nothing to do with body shape, size or lack of clothing.
Then again, I'm a guy. What do I know about objectifying women?!
