What Dove controversy taught me...

      For class, we had to pick an ad and analyze it textually and contextually through speech and an essay respectively. I chose Dove's evolution commercial as it had enough depth for me to dig through...maybe a little too much.

      I love Dove. I love the scent of their shampoos and they always make my hair perfect the way I want it--not too dry or oily. When I evaluated the ad in textual terms, the one minute 'short film' successfully developed ethos of the company as reliable and trustworthy. It led me to appreciate Dove even more than I already did.

      However, after researching the commercial in contextual grounds, I came across the controversy of Dove and its affiliation with Axe. Dove established positive ethos through the use of kairos, setting Internet as the mainstream commercial pool, it attracted many female audience. Moreover, the response of exigence towards artificiality of beauty promoted by media manifested Dove as a compassionate and genuine company.

      Despite these achievements, the controversy is that Dove and Axe are under the same corporation, Unilever. Although Axe is similarly a line of teenage boy's toiletries such as shampoo, body wash, and deodorants, they differ from Dove in that since their target market is young men, they positioned their products that will attract women to men using Axe. Through the release of “Bom Chicka Wah Wah,” Unilever conveys that more Axe a man uses, the more gorgeous and thin supermodels will want them. This puts women as sexual objects, much different from what Dove is trying to communicate.

      If I have not researched about this and dug deep about Dove and its credibility, I would have just loved Dove and how they are different, better from other beauty product companies. It's something I should consider the next time I need my shampoo.