Q. How do the layout and formal stylistic devices persuade the audience?
Beauty is not meant to be altered, only enhanced! Media in the process of
spreading its influence across diverse fields of marketing, informing and
propagating, is indirectly responsible for creating stereotypes in society. One
such impact is on the concept of beauty, influencing individuals to typecast
themselves into a set identity: beautiful or ugly. This dove advertisement is a
part of the brand’s campaign for real beauty. Celebrating the idea of diversity,
the advertisement promotes a paradigm shift towards branding hair care
products. The purpose of this print advertisement is not just to sell the
product but to inspire women to build a positive relationship with beauty. It
targets women of all age groups, hairstyles and ethnicity through the use of
techniques such as layout and visual narrative, anchored in language
(linguistic techniques) through the text.
The given advertisement strategically uses layout to focus on the visual
narrative. Boxed in small squares, the images of the women create a larger
box around the caption which is the first thing that grabs the reader's
attention. Ironically, these women do not fit into a boxed idea of beauty with
their varied skin colours, hair textures and hairstyles. Thus, the use of the
headshots of the women in the small squares can reflect the shattering of the
stereotypes from within the moulds created by society. Interestingly the
headshots are of women who are not hair models. This is evident from the
image itself and is also supported by the caption ‘These women are not hair
models’ written at the centre of the square. Here, the creator uses the
technique of plain folks by using simple ordinary characters that
enhance/increase the relatability in the audience which further assures them
to believe that they are beautiful in their own ways, despite not being models.
The layout of the advertisement also focuses on the caption - ‘None of these
women are hair models, after all, neither are you’ which is written in blue
font at the centre. Apart from anchoring the image, the typography of the
caption also adds to the overall theme of celebrating beauty ideals from
across the globe. This is done through the use of a universally appealing
‘Arial’ font that is clean and structured. On the bottom right corner of the
advertisement, is a bottle of the Dove hair care product. That the product is
placed in a relatively insignificant position and is much smaller than the
image puts emphasis on propagating the overarching idea of celebrating
beauty in all shapes and forms.
Dove attempts to delink anxiety associated with beauty ideals and promote
confidence and acceptance among women. Here, the image underpins this
purpose of the brand through the images of the women. While the camera
captures all women from different angles, there is one commonality between
them. They are all smiling confidently, exuding radiance and happiness. The
message is clear - using dove hair care products gives you the confidence to
be comfortable in your own skin. Ranging from Asian women flaunting
fringes to Black women with short, curly hair they look self-assured about
their beauty. These women are shot in studio light, as evident from the white
background behind them. This is a powerful comment, subverting the idea
that only models are pretty enough to be shot in studios.
The caption, along with the copy of the advertisement further contributes to
the theme of real women, real beauty. The caption makes use of double
negatives to position the brand by showing that it does not stand for
promoting stereotypical ideas of beauty supported by photoshopped hair
models. The copy of the advertisement uses the rhetorical element of ethos
with the phrase ‘Dove believes all women have beautiful hair’ to build a
sense of credibility by presenting the idea of self-assured natural beauty. In
addition, the copy with the repetition of the word ‘deep care’ elicits an
emotional response from the audience. The copy and the caption also use
personal pronouns like ‘you’ and ‘your’ to get the audience’s attention by
directly addressing them. In this context, the personal pronoun might also
work to make each woman from a diverse group of the female audience feel
like they are the woman with ‘beautiful hair’ just like the copy mentions. The
phrase ‘no matter what length, style, cut, colour or texture’ reinforces the idea
of diverse beauty not restricted by narrow standards. To build on the
credibility of the campaign for real beauty, the copy ends with its URL -
www.campaignforrealbeauty.com.
Overall, the Dove advertisement successfully conveys the idea of celebrating
real beauty while also promoting their hair care products. Through the use of
image, layout and language in the copy and caption, the advertisement
promotes confidence in women to wear their hair the way they like, using
Dove to only enhance their appearance.
