"Influential Advertising: Dove and Its Use of Rhetorical Elements in Commercials and Social Media"

Paulina Alvarez

Paulina Alvarez is an undergraduate student at the University of Central Florida. She is majoring in Advertising and Public Relations and double minoring in Digital Media and Psychology. She wrote this essay for her ENC 1102 class during her freshman year. Paulina wishes to continue learning how visual and written components influence human behavior in order to one day create her own effective advertising campaigns as an art director.

Contents

Introduction

Literature Review

Methods

Results & Discussion

Conclusion

Works Cited

Appendix A

Introduction

Dove’s “Campaign for Real Beauty” was ranked as the number one most influential advertisement of our century according to Ad Age. People described it as “groundbreaking, brave, bold, insightful, transparent and authentic” (Neff, n.d.). The campaign’s purpose was not only to sell personal care products but to also try and change societal notions about beauty. As explained by Ad Age, the idea originated in 2003 in the United Kingdom and Canada when Dove decided to launch a series of billboard advertisements featuring regular women instead of professional models. These billboards (Figure 1) asked motorists to vote on whether the women pictured were, for example, “fat or fit” or “withered or wonderful.” The results sparked a conversation about society’s beauty standards for women, allowing Dove to refocus their marketing and advertising strategies around the idea of spreading positive messages about women’s beauty.

The company was determined to create “a new definition of beauty [that] will free women from self-doubt and encourage them to embrace their real beauty” (Pace, 2009, p. 45). This new idea received significant media coverage from multiple talk shows and women’s magazines, generating an estimated media exposure worth 30 times more than the paid-for advertising (Pace, 2009, pp. 44-45). Figuring they were on to something, Dove decided to delve into television commercials and social media to further expand the campaign. Through these channels, the company was able to build successful brand identity, loyalty, and recognition over the years. It fueled a conversation about changing the stereotypical standards of beauty for women, which people appreciated, and even influenced other brands such as Nike, CoverGirl, Pantene, and Always to mimic the marketing and advertising approach.

This article examines how Dove was able to accomplish all of this. To do so, I designed and conducted an IRB-approved study that addressed the following research question: how do the rhetorical elements surrounding Dove’s commercials and social media play a role in creating the company’s successful campaign? I focused on word choices and the pathos and ethos utilized in creating certain themes for the commercials and social media posts that ultimately helped persuade, motivate, and educate Dove’s audience. I analyzed 160 Instagram posts and Tweets and issued a survey asking participants to answer a few questions about their history with Dove and their opinions on three commercials.

There has been some research done in the past directly about Dove and its tactics, but the majority of studies specializing in advertising and digital media focus on the areas surrounding the tools a company like Dove uses, such as commercials and social media. For this reason, I will be further expanding the research available directly relating to Dove and how it uses these specific tools in relation to rhetorical elements.