Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Dove on "beauty"

I don't know about the rest of you but I am sick of the Dove soap adds trying to redefine beauty for us. They say that their purpose is to challenge societies ideas of beauty as thin and shapeless and say that curves are beautiful too. They have completely missed what women really need to hear these days. We don't need to hear that curves make us beautiful, instead we need to hear that what makes us beautiful has nothing to do with our bodies. Our beauty comes from who we are not what we look like. We are all made in the image and likeness of God and that makes us beautiful. We need to take the focus off the body. Women will not really embrace the way their body looks until they know their true dignity apart from their physical appearance. No one would deny that Mother Theresa was one of the most beautiful women to ever live. Clearly this has nothing to do with her physical appearance. It has everything to do with the fact that when you look into her eyes you encounter our Lord and his Blessed Mother. That is what makes us beautiful as women. So please Dove, if you want to launch a real campaign to redefine beauty look to Our Blessed Mother as your model. Put her face on all your billboard instead of half naked women who happen to be the opposite of what society claims is beautiful.

1 comment:

Chantal said...

I 100% agree with you that women need to find their beauty based on values other than appearance.

I have to admit though, that there is a part of me that appreciates the campaign's criticism that in this appearance-driven society, you do not have to be underweight to have a beautiful body. Every freckle and every curve is a gift from our Creator, and our body's image glorifies Him in an incomprehensible way. Now, if only some of the advertisements had a little less nudity... ;-)