In the age of consumer control, it is incumbent on marketers to be or at least seem to be (the far more common but far less preferable approach) totally authentic in order to earn attention. A new Dove short film -- part of their Real Beauty program -- addresses authenticity, and the general lack of it in advertising, head-on by taking viewers through the prep, production and post-production process for an advertising photo shoot. From MediaPost's Out to Launch e-newsletter:
Ogilvy Toronto created a fabulous commercial for Dove showing that even size 00 models look bad when they wake up and are airbrushed and retouched more than you'd imagine. The ad begins with a model, sans makeup, waiting to be primped. Simple changes in lighting drastically change the model's appearance. The hair and makeup alterations come next, but seeing the model's façade altered via PhotoShop was quite the eye-opener--even for the model. The ad pans out to the finished product, an outdoor ad, and concludes with "no wonder our perception of beauty is distorted," along with a URL where girls in Canada can sign up for a Real Beauty workshop.
