Every little girl has once dreamed of being a princess, and was taught that beauty is based on appearance and the way you look will effect your future greatly. However, a couple weeks ago I did a challenge for inner beauty that was trying to help girls recognize that your outward appearance isn't what matters, it's who you are on the inside. I chose this site because that was still fresh on my mind and it was something I actually cared about and I think in order to have self-esteem you need to recognize inner beauty.
The quote I started this paper with was one of the first quotes I read when I got onto the Dove website. Not only did it help me know what sort of stuff I was going to expect, but it also helped me know who the audience was going to be. It’s very clear that it’s focused on helping a younger generation to have more self-esteem, which not only targets the younger generation as an audience, but also the older generations so that they can be aware and help the younger generations.
After reading through this quote the next thing I went into was the link that said, “What do you wish you’d know at 13?” (Again, obviously focused on the younger generation.) It has dozens of inspiring messages to thirteen year olds from older woman of things they wish they’d know or they were just inspiring thoughts. Some of these were: “It’s okay to stand out and to stand up for what you believe in. Others will stand with you. Stay strong and be BEAUTIFUL!” “Time flies by too fast. Live life to the fullest, no matter what people may say to ruin your self-esteem,” and some were as simple as “You’re beautiful.” Along with the messages on this page there was a picture of a girl blowing the leaves off a flower. The picture draws in the older woman, such as mothers, because they can relate to that picture- every child has blown that leaves off the flower, and every mother has watched as their little girl blew it making her wish. They can see their child in that girl and they want to help that wish come true. The picture helps draw the mothers to this page. It also helped draw me to the page because it's such a simple, cute picture that one can't help but want to learn more. It was a very effective way to draw people in from the very start.
After reading through several of the quotes, I watched a video clip. The video clip starts out with two little girls and an older woman we assume is their mother. One of the girls says she doesn’t like her smile, but the other girl tells her that the smile makes her look pretty. Simple, but cute. It catches ones attention and makes them want to help promote self-esteem for this little girl. But the commercial goes on and has another girl and her mother, but this girl is older, probably in her mid-teens. It changes the audience from children and their mothers to older girls as well and by doing so it essentially opens it up to girls of all ages. Before the thought was only for younger girls, but then you realize it’s for more than that. It’s for girls in their late teens as well. Girls that are my age. After seeing that I couldn’t help but want to look at more not just for this paper, but just to know about it. Somehow seeing that girl that was closer to my age made me want to help promote self-esteem to girls of that age because those are the girls that surround me, those are the girls that I would actually have an impact on.
Besides just promoting self-esteem it also talks a bit about individuality (which is in a sense a form of self-esteem). One way used to express individuality was a story told by a lady named Maria Pascucci. She talks about being your own person and not trying to fill other’s shoes. You don’t have to grow up to be your mom. You can be completely different from your mom, but both of you can both be amazing people. You should be what makes you most comfortable, and lets you enjoy life the most! Sometimes we try to be someone were not because we look up to them, or think that's who we're expected to be, but when we do these kinds of things we aren't doing what we want to do, and it can cause low self esteem because we don't see ourselves as we want to be, and let's face it, we can never be someone else. If girls were to recognize the importance of individuality then more of them would have better self-esteem. Having this article there gives examples of ways to help promote self-esteem. Instead of just saying, "Go promote self-esteem," it gives ways to do it which will make it so people will actually go out and help people have a better view of themselves.
Aside from this article on individuality there were many other articles discussing self-esteem, ways to promote it, ways to feel better about yourself, and all of those sorts of things, but the one thing I noticed was that in the midst of all these they would have advertisements for Dove products. One of the times when I saw an ad for body wash I got the impression that if someone were to use that body wash they would have better self-esteem. Now I know this is a silly idea, because the type of body wash you use really won’t impact your self-esteem, but by placing that ad there a lot of people will end up buying it. So not only are they trying to promote self-esteem, but they’re making sure they get some money out of it too.
All-in-all I think the website is very well done and will capture a lot of girl’s eyes. Many people will try to help promote self-esteem so that their daughter will be more confident in herself when she grows up. But why does this matter? Because there are people all around us that could use a boost in self-esteem. We are all part of this community and every little thing we say or do to others can impact their self-esteem, and if we are aware of that we can help change someone's life. We can help them become better people, and this website helped me become aware of some of the little things I can do to help others have a better view of themselves.
Selea,
ReplyDeleteFrom your analysis I took away the impression that self-esteem is a major hurdle that women cope with-it was the focus of the campaign and you related every element of said campaign to this principle. Good work!
My only concern is that the paragraphs are bulky for an online format. The content is fine, it just needs to be visually separated more. Almost to the point that it feels overly sparse. Try this in the future and your posts will pack even more punch.