# Help me find an advertisement Nevermind, Help me ANALYZE an advertisement **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 2, 2011, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-advertisement-nevermind-help-me-analyze-an-advertisement/591196 "2011-08-02T17:05:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-advertisement-nevermind-help-me-analyze-an-advertisement/591196/21 "2011-08-02T20:04:57Z")
Yes, washing with Dove soap will make you skinnier and whiter. ---
**Author:** ![ENugent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/4af34b/32.png) [@ENugent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ENugent)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-advertisement-nevermind-help-me-analyze-an-advertisement/591196/22 "2011-08-02T20:12:20Z")
We talked about that ad [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=13867575#post13867575), as well. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-advertisement-nevermind-help-me-analyze-an-advertisement/591196/23 "2011-08-02T20:19:39Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > It would have worked better if the skin examples had been arranged top-to-bottom rather than left-to-right, such that the eye would have been drawn down the page: “Before (bad skin swatch)” “After (soft skin swatch)” “group shot of three ‘real women’.” I agree completely and don’t understand how between an ad agency and a client they could have ‘missed’ such a thing and not caught such a blatant poorly constructed ad that probably cost thousands to put together and tens of thousands to put in magazines. I thought these sorts of things were assembled by people with degrees who knew what they were doing. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-advertisement-nevermind-help-me-analyze-an-advertisement/591196/24 "2011-08-02T20:29:29Z")
I saw this ad running in my wife’s quebec-french mags (don’t judge me, that’s all I’ve got in the littlest library) for some time, and never blinked. Saw it again on failblog (captioned “racism fail”,) so it definitely isn’t just you. (Unless the idea really was that it failed at racism.) I think the intent with the “before” and “after” is pretty clear, and since the women are portrayed in the context of a [lengthy and ongoing campaign](http://www.google.ca/search?um=1&hl=en&biw=733&bih=607&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=%22campaign+for+real+beauty%22&oq=%22campaign+for+real+beauty%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=0l0l0l33164l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0) associating the product line with diversity and respect and appreciation for all _sorts_ of variety when it comes to beauty, all I got at a glance of that ad is not-very-subtle “LOOK! WE’RE _INCLUSIVE_!” I think when you see yet another in a series of Dove ads featuring lineups of variously shaped and complected women in white bikinis, it’s hard to interpret in a way that is completely opposite from the message that they’ve been hammering out for eight years now. ---
**Author:** ![Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Living\_Well\_Is\_Best\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-advertisement-nevermind-help-me-analyze-an-advertisement/591196/25 "2011-08-02T20:48:03Z")
Definitely subtle (not so subtle?) racism. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2011, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-advertisement-nevermind-help-me-analyze-an-advertisement/591196/26 "2011-08-02T21:13:00Z")
I didn’t get a racism or sizeism vibe from it at all. Maybe if there had been only two women, then I would see a correlation between the Before and After applying directly to them. But all I see are three happy women who have to be using the product, or they wouldn’t seem so happy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-an-advertisement-nevermind-help-me-analyze-an-advertisement/591196.md?page=1)