Dove Beauty Video Goes Viral

Just in case you aren't in the YouTube loop, there's a video on women and beauty that has gone viral--over 22 million people have watched it to date. The video, entitled Real Beauty Sketches, was produced by the Dove soap people. According to Dove, only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. That's a pretty sobering statistic, albeit not entirely surprising. The question remains, however: How can women think this way? Women know better. Specifically...

• We all know how harmful those Madison Avenue bullies are, making women feel rotten about their appearance. 

• We all know that the advertisers will say anything to sell beauty products. 

• We all know that if someone discovered a product that made noses look like elephant trunks, Madison Ave. would declare: "Nose that look like elephant trunks are beautiful!" 

And yet, some of us--96% of us, if you believe the statistic--continue to accept Madison Avenue's totally fabricated definition of beauty. The sad reality is, the women in the video are all attractive women. Here, see for yourself...




Dove invites you to join the conversation either at YouTube, at their website or on Twitter at #wearebeautiful. If you view the video here, be sure to take a peek at the Dove website. The site has a longer version of the video, plus a gallery of all the sketches of the women. I'd love to know what you think of the project.