Ulta, Sephora, VS… Ulta, Sephora, VS. Adolescent minds spin in circles like the merry-go-round at the corner of the mall as glamour shots and perfumes cloud their heads. Ads shout out,”You want to be beautiful?” Well, come in.” “For only three easy payments of $59.99 (and half your soul), you will be on your way to obtaining the prestigious title of Miss Universe.” Yeah, right! Five pounds of skin cream or loud clothes won’t make you runway-ready, as 17 Magazine insinuates. However, true beauty can not be bought, for it comes from within. Therefore, I believe Dove portrays that idea perfectly through the use of imagery, spoken words, music, and the propaganda technique, ‘plain folks’.
In the strikingly differing ideas of beauty portrayed by imagery and plain folks, used by both 17 Mag. and Dove, it’s easy to lose the genuine concept of beauty, which comes from one’s inner self. Teenagers, or anyone for that matter, aren’t necessarily the epitome of dewy-faced, flawless models; they don’t jump out of bed, glowing hair flying behind their backs, pouty lips smudge-less, or eyebrows as if they were painted on by Van Gogh himself. This is the illusion that the corporation 17 Magazine wants us to believe. Obviously, this is intentional to make influential people buy every tube of lipstick, scrap of clothing, or bangle that their little heart thinks the need. Beauty enhancing products have become a necessity rather than a want. Nowadays, if a teacher asks,“What does one need to survive?”, a classroom full of hands would shoot up, anxiously thinking, “Well, that’s simple. Air, water, food,… and a long, silver chanel necklace, oh course.” At that point, both myself and the teacher would have boarded a one-way ticket to Mars, yet even then our clothes would be “so last light-year.” Unlike this false assumption that everyone can obtain beauty by worldly standards set by 17 Mag., instead, humans are human. Simple enough, right. Well, apparently not. People have bedraggled hair. People have annoying acne. People have rumpled clothes. BECAUSE THEY ARE PEOPLE. Raw, real, natural, beautiful people. Not everyone’s a pin-up. This is fully presented by Dove’s ad, featuring everyday people living everyday lives. Rather than being posed against a perfectly purposely weathered white brick wall, the students can be seen taking selfies and being interviewed in their backyards or kitchens. There were no rushing assistants with starbucks or people busying themselves with outfits or props; none of that to worry about. Instead, these girls were worried about what this company was trying to sell and I’m not talking about magazines. 17, in it’s core, sells insecurities resulting in the worldly definition of beauty. The ad showed the girls lack of confidence, evident in their faces with plain clothes and naked faces. It shows beachers full of girls listening to a motivational speaker speaking of just that topic and laughing along at the cliche idea of selfies and editing.