Sep 20 2008
Example — Dove Commercial
One commercial that is fascinating me in the way that it combines hypnotic techniques is the new Dove commercial. It is so damn clever that I’m coming to hate it. It shows a cute little girl looking at a sexy ad at a bus stop. All of a sudden we are drawn in to the add and a large number of images flash before us at very high speed. Then we come back to that little girl, and Dove announces that they are spending lots of money on self-esteem workshops, letting small girls know they are beautiful and attractive despite all those evil examples by the models.
This is insidious. First the commercial has you connect with the sympathetic young girl, who really is quite cute. Then, suddenly, the sex assault: dozens of images of scantily dressed beautiful women, all hitting you at once. Any male, and most females, will be aroused at this kind of rapid image presentation.
It finally ends on the girl, and then Dove goes into its pitch. However, ending up on the girl creates a subconscious guilt about feeling sexual, aroused, while looking at a small girl. Dove gives you an out by allowing you to help her, and others, with their “self-esteem.” All you need to do is buy Dove.
I have no idea what this did to their sales, but I would be very surprised if they didn’t go up a whole lot. This kind of attack on our unconscious minds is practically irresistible, and is unconscious to most people.
Can you find commercials that do something similar?
3 Responses to “Example — Dove Commercial”
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I can’t think of any similar commercials, but I just wanted to comment that I wasn’t aroused by looking at the women. I was irritated. Being a woman who will never look like that, those kind of in-your-face images irritate me. But then again, I’m easily irritated.
I haven’t bought any Dove products lately either. I’m not sure if there’s a connection, hehehe.
The Gucci ad seems pretty clever:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOGNyV9ngMk
The shorter version is even better.
Looks like you’re missing the point about this commercial. This is in no way an attempt by Dove to cause anyone to be sexually aroused by the images of scantily clad women while looking at a little girl. If you did become aroused, you have a definite problem!We are assaulted from birth by images of what women are “supposed” to look like. Go to any department store and look at little girls’ fashions and accessories and you will notice that kindergartners are encouraged to dress in hooker clothes and wear makeup. They are being conditioned to adhere to these unreal standards of how they should dress, act, behave and look. I applaud Dove for their campaign to raise awareness among women and girls about real beauty and self-esteem. Is it a marketing and PR tool and are they hoping to generate profits from this campaign? Of course they are! But I would rather support a company that encourages us to look deeper at our unrealistic standards of beauty and to feel comfortable in the skin we were blessed to be born with than to continue to buy into the Madison Avenue standards of beauty that encourage eating disorders, self mutilation through plastic surgery and the development of an inferiority complex because nobody can look like those airbrushed models in the ads. Learn to be more discerning in your analysis of ads and get past the images of scatily clad women that seem to appeal to your prurient nature.