The global Dove campaign - in Israel

What is it about?

Dove’s “real women” ads reached Israel in 2006. Part of a campaign with a social message, they aimed at changing society’s stereotypical image of women, expanding the definition of beauty, empowering women, and generating public debate of these issues. This paper examines the discourse that emerged in Israel in two arenas: the Internet forum on the company’s website and the media. It seeks to answer the questions: How successful was the campaign’s direct appeal for public debate? What issues were raised and how were they addressed? Did a feminist voice emerge? The findings show that the discourse, particularly in the forum, was primarily patriarchal. The underlying premise and tacit message of most participants, male and female, was that women are required to meet society’s patriarchal expectations as shaped by the conventional ideal of beauty. Furthermore, the participants’ thinking patterns and conceptualization (e.g., binary thinking, ranking the women in the ads by appearance) revealed an androcentric bias. These findings suggest that the virtual realm can not necessarily be expected to enable unconventional public debate. On the contrary, the Internet appears to reflect traditional patterns of power and oppression. The results are discussed in light of the social/cultural context of Israel.

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Why is it important?

The Dove campaign is a global campaign which continues these days.