Branding Relations: Mother-Daughter Discourse on Beauty and Body in an Israeli Campaign by Dove

What is it about?

In March 2013 Unilever Israel, owner of the Dove brand, launched a new campaign calling for a dialogue between mothers and their adolescent daughters around the issue of self-esteem and body image. The Israeli campaign was part of the global “Campaign for Real Beauty” launched by Unilever in 2004. The Israeli campaign was run primarily on two Internet platforms that appeal to women, and was based mainly on the talk of "ordinary" mothers and daughters on online videos and blogs – ostensibly personal yet produced by advertisers. Based on discourse analysis and critical examination of the consumerist and postfeminist context in which the campaign was produced, this paper explores how the mother-daughter relationship suggests a new sphere for processes of branding.

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