http://www.cgarena.com/videos/commercials/swf/dove.html

I think I met her in a bar one night.


well the "before" her

it'* been circulating around digg, etc for probably a year now. you'd be surprised how many women are like that though (just to a lesser extent)
if they all stopped wearing makeup, you would notice INSTANTLY :?

Really? I think I met the after

You know they're using deliberately bad lighting in the before shot, right? She'* a pretty solid 9, I'd say...

Now do you see why so many young girls have such bad body images?? Goodness, it is crazy to believe that women must look like that all the time.

You still have to see how much that situation has improved in the last fifteen years.
The eighties and early nineties took us to that damned "waif" look. Over the last few years, we've gradually come to a healthier image. When was the last time you could count SI model'* ribs? And the whole image of the fashion model is no longer seen as the ideal of feminine beauty. As well, we're also moving slowly away from the lego-person models like Pamela Anderson. Silicone is gradually giving way to the growing distaste for artificial beauty.
Instead, we've come to see women like Danica Patrick, Gwen Stefani, or Anna Kournikova as our image of beauty. Strong, physically fit women who still work to maintain their figures, but do it by sensible means, without resorting to starving or purging. The average man now will point to this type of woman as his ideal, rather than the skinny, muscle-less stick figures we once worshiped. I'd say that'* a more healthy attitude, wouldn't you?

*nods* I agree with GonneVille. I'm also more than a little happy to be seeing more plus size models as time goes on, both in the men'* department and the women'*.

To be perfectly honest, my impression as of late has been that the media image of women has shifted more positively than it has with male models. Women aren't the only ones being held to an unrealistically high "standard".

Me personally, I spend 95% of my life makeupless. I honestly don't think it'd work with someone who'd seen me on the rare occasion when I do wear makeup and was initially attracted to me because of how I look.

That'* a really eye opening commercial. I'm glad Dove made it, and I'm also glad they do have programs working towards self esteem in young women.

nice commercial.

i, for one, prefer it that nancy doesnt wear makeup. life is not a beauty pageant, no matter how many women seem to think it is. give me natural beauty over that fake crap.

and as has been mentioned, women arent the only ones being "held" to impossible standards. at this stage of the game, (as mentioned) most men prefer an athletic, HEALTHY physique over the twiggy physique. im glad the women in charge of advertising are finally beginning to figure that out. now if they could just go the rest of the way . . .

Gonneville'* got it, so i wont say more.

I do have one small reconsideration on my previous post.
We do still put a lot of pressure on girls to conform to the "attractive" ideal. Girls and boys who are overweight are still made fun of and and pushed out of social circles.

It'* only our image of the ideal that has improved. The way we treat those who don't fit that ideal still has a long way to go.