Dove’s New Beauty Video Experiment Is So Fake…And We love It!

They started a beauty revolution with the ‘Real Women’ Campaign, ignited the internet with the ‘Real Beauty Sketches‘ viral video (to date the most watched advertising video on Youtube with over 3.8 million views) and forced the film industry to get on board with the beauty messages in their short film called ‘Selfie‘.

This time Dove, who just can’t stop creating videos and campaigns that get us all talking, have released a new video which is very different from the rest. Why? It’s basically all fake. Yep, we said it.

We see a group of women who meet with real life psychologist and body image expert Dr. Ann Kearney-Cooke from the Cinicinnati Psychotherapy institute. They are part of a research group who are testing a “revolutionary” beauty product which is a patch called ‘RB-X’.

The patch apparently enhances the way women perceive their own beauty. Dr. Kearney-Cooke who has been conducting research on women for the last 30 years sits down with each woman individually and asks them what they are most insecure about. All of them point out parts of their body and say generally they don’t walk around feeling “beautiful”.

“I wish I had more confidence…” says one woman, Tracey.

“Everybody wants to look younger, why can’t being older be good?” asks another, Chris.

The test subjects are all given the patch to use and cameras check in with them after using it for 12 hours. Most of them say they didn’t physically see a difference, but one woman said her co-worker commented on how pretty she looked. After almost 2 weeks the comments are very different.

The women say they are now walking around feeling comfortable, happy and positive about their bodies. They attribute it to the patch they have been wearing every day.

When they come back to meet with Dr. Kearney-Cooke, she asks them if they would like to know what was in the beauty patch that has had such a remarkable effect on their confidence and beauty. Here’s what they find out…

Yep! It was all fake. There was nothing in the patch whatsoever. The whole video shows that even today, women are still looking for an artificial cure for low self-esteem. But the truth is, our confidence comes from within and cannot be found anywhere else.

“We have heard from thousands of women about how their complicated relationship with beauty affects their overall confidence and happiness,” said Jennifer Bremner, brand building director of skin cleansing for Dove. “By illustrating through the Dove: Patches film that a positive state of mind and openness can help them feel more beautiful, we hope to inspire all women and help change the way they see themselves.”

While this video is a very clever way of showing women the true source of beauty, it is important to note that this issue is not easily fixed with, say, a patch. We all need encouragement to help us find our strength. This is why women and girls supporting each other is paramount.

Beauty is not about achieving a number on some sort of scale, nor is it about what you see on the outside. Once again, well done to Dove for showing us that placing all our worth on our physical appearance is not what makes us valuable.