1. Introduction

While selecting the advertisement campaign, all the business undertakings have to assess the advertising environment thoroughly so that the effectiveness of the advertising strategy can be improved on a global scale. The key factors relating to laws and advertising, gender, sex and morals, use of celebrities as brands, and humour must be taken into account so that the exact message that the marketer intends to share with the public can be communicated in the best way possible. The “Dove” TV commercial has been selected here to understand the kind of beauty message that is communicated to the female section of the society. Thus here the fundamental concept that has been used relates to gender because the target audience of these advertisements always has been the female gender (Fortune, 2018).

2. The brief description of the “Dove” ad

As per Connell (2014), the Dove brand functions at the global market level. The selected Indian Dove commercial emphasizes the real beauty of females. The intention is to encourage women of all shapes, sizes and skin tones to be comfortable and confident in their skin (Connell, 2014).

The advertisement shares a positive message with the target audience and asks them to break the existing rules of a society relating to beauty. In India, when most “skin creams” advertisements and “soaps” advertisements try to promote fair skin and silky hair, this brand makes a sincere attempt to break the obsession with beauty conventions. In India, people with different skin tones, shapes and sizes stay, so they do not have to feel inferior about their body, colour or other physical features (Lighthouse Insights, 2018).

In the advertisement, the viewers can see that the female individuals with different features are smiling and are happy because they are comfortable being themselves. In India, where females face high pressure from society to be fair-skinned, this advertisement is a revolutionary change because it focuses on the real beauty of women and not just on their physical features. The ultimate message that the Indian dove advertisement shares with the viewers are that women need to break the idea of beauty that society wants them to believe. It encourages them to showcase their natural faces because that is the true representation of Indian beauty (Lighthouse Insights, 2018).

Source: (Golob, 2018)

3. A comparison with the advertisement environment in the U.S. setting

The Dove advertisements that are designed for the U.S audience are pretty similarly designed and communicated with them because the ultimate message is to strengthen the real beauty of women. As per (Fortin (2015), in the U.S. the Unilever brand does not focus on any particular skin tone of the female population, instead, the brand focuses on recognizable women of varying shapes, sizes and ethnicities, in the advertising (Fortin, 2015).

The advertising environment in the U.S. is very different from that of India. The people in the U.S. try to have an open attitude and the society also does not force the women to meet certain beauty and fairness standards. But in the Indian advertising setting, most skin cream brands and soap brands share the wrong message to women about the definition of beauty (Shawver & Clements, 2015).

The advertisements of the Dove brand have a “Feel-good theme” so that the perception of beauty can be changed for the better. The brand believes that all women are beautiful and unique in their way. The fundamental message that the brand shares with the female audience are that they should be comfortable and confident on their terms. The Dove advertisement in the U.S. shares the message that women do not have to be defined by anybody’s expectations (Elias, Lacetera & Macis, 2015). But they can dress up and be themselves and still feel beautiful.

The advertisement encourages the target audience to not try to fit into any particular situation but to stand out because of their unique beauty (Fortune, 2018). The campaign is known as “My Beauty My Say” and it kind of empowers women in the masculine American society. In the feminine Indian advertising context, the advertisements tell women, in general, to feel beautiful naturally. But in the American Dove advertisements, women are motivated to unfollow the wrong perception of beauty and follow their hearts and mind to take their decisions in life (Guetto, Luijkx & Scherer, 2015).

Source: (Golob, 2018)

The advertisement that has been selected shows that there is a certain level of difference between the advertising environment of India and that of the U.S. Unilever has carefully designed its Dove television commercials for the respective environment so that the intended message about “Real beauty” can be shared to the females in the respective locations. Despite certain similarities in the advertising setting, the advertisement has been differently designed with a similar message to the audience (Weeks, 2014). The masculine features and the feminine features of society have a vital impact on the advertising environment.

4. Conclusion

The advertisement that has been selected here talks about female beauty. The Dove brand is one of the first brands that tell the female members of the Indian society to feel naturally beautiful and pretty instead of changing themselves as per the expectations of the society. The advertising environment in the nation plays a key role and moulds the advertisement in a certain way so that the message can be communicated in the best possible manner. The advertisement environment of the U.S. has been assessed and compared with that of the Indian advertisement setting. The comparison reveals that the U.S. has a masculine advertising environment whereas India has a feminine advertising setting. Due to this kind of difference, the respective Dove advertisements have been designed and communicated differently. The ultimate intention is to promote the real beauty of women. But different techniques have been adopted even though the product being advertised is the same.

Businesses need to carefully assess the advertising environment before designing their particular advertisement and the underlying message. The key aspects that must be taken into consideration include the laws relating to the advertisement, humour elements, the role of celebrities, and masculine or feminine features. It can help them to design effective ads that communicate the relevant message to the audience.

5. References

Connell, R.W., 2014. Gender and power: Society, the person and sexual politics. John Wiley & Sons.

Elias, J.J., Lacetera, N. and Macis, M., 2015. Markets and morals: an experimental survey study. PloS one, 10(6), p.e0127069.

Fortune. 2018. Dove Is Back At It With Another Inspirational Ad. [Online] Available at: http://fortune.com/2016/06/28/dove-my-beauty-my-say/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].

Fortin, N.M., 2015. Gender role attitudes and women’s labour market participation: Opting-out, aids, and the persistent appeal of housewifery. Annals of Economics and Statistics/Annales d’Économie et de Statistique, (117/118), pp.379-401.

Guetto, R., Luijkx, R. and Scherer, S., 2015. Religiosity, gender attitudes and women’s labour market participation and fertility decisions in Europe. Acta Sociologica, 58(2), pp.155-172.

Golob, P. 2018. Winning Over Female Beauty Consumers in India – A Lesson From Dove – GFluence. [Online] GFluence. Available at: https://gfluence.com/winning-female-beauty-consumers-india-lesson-dove/ [Accessed 13 Mar. 2018].

Lighthouse Insights. 2018. #RealBeauty: Dove Wants Us, Indian Women, To Break The Rules Of Beauty. [Online] Available at: http://lighthouseinsights.in/dove-break-the-rules-of-beauty.html/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2018].

Shawver, T.J. and Clements, L.H., 2015. Are There Gender Differences When Professional Accountants Evaluate Moral Intensity for Earnings Management?. Journal of business ethics, 131(3), pp.557-566.

Weeks, J., 2014. Sex, politics and society: The regulations of sexuality since 1800. Routledge.