Soap and Self-Esteem

...is the missing ingredient that Dove has brought to the forefront. To your point about distortion, I just found a very interesting essay on the Dove Campaign by Erica of I'm Sick of Your Insane Demands. She's openly ambivalent about the campaign, but has a great link:

On a related note: Check out a really cool before-and-after magazine cover generator here.

The link takes you through the re-touch of a fictitious "Metropolitan" magazine. Check it out.
Lisa Stone
BlogHer Co-founder
Surfette

Back when I was in college all Psych 101 students had to fulfill part of their course requirement by actually being in experiments! The one I remember most was one for which I had to remove any trace of makeup on my face and stick my head through a hole in a piece of cardboard. All you could see was my face--no hair nothing. I thought, what a stupid experiment. But they weren't done. Next they filmed me--my big ol face answering their questions. It became very clear what they were testing--how insecure women feel when stripped of their beauty armor. I was hardly wearing any makeup, but just being seen like that I felt like I was being filmed naked.

Again, Dove gets credit. You really can effect change and sell a bar of soap in the process.

Jory Des Jardins
BlogHer
Personal Blog Pause