Last but not least: Brand women savvy

In 2007, the cosmetics manufacturer Dove launched the "Campaign for True Beauty" in several countries. In keeping with its image of health-promoting body care, the female slimming mania was attacked in advertising and marketing - a topic that had already been thoroughly covered in the media last year and the year before last under the flattering title "Hunger Models". The thoroughly commendable campaign also deliberately shows firmer and plumper models in the advertisements. It aims to educate girls with a discussion about "true beauty" and has also set itself the goal of reaching five million young girls with its message by 2011. But Dove has a problem, as two American professors found out according to Advertising Age. And it's not just that Dove owner Unilever is advertising en masse in the style that the Dove campaign criticizes. The resourceful professors, inspired by the Dove campaign, wanted to know how girls react to slim models in advertising and surveyed 194 college girls between the ages of 18 and 24. The results were devastating in every respect. Advertising with thin models had the effect that the girls felt worse about themselves, but liked the brand all the more. Advertising with average models, on the other hand, did not make the brand stick in their minds as much. For Dove, this means that their commitment is probably not paying off financially. And it is hoped that the girls will grow up as quickly as possible.