April 11, 2015

"The beautiful door is completely open for me."



Some nice viral video from Dove (that serves an advertising purpose without showing a product).

I found that because Buzzfeed had an article about it with the subtitle "Once again, soap is acting condescending" and an "update" that reads:
This post was inappropriately deleted amid an ongoing conversation about how and when to publish personal opinion pieces on BuzzFeed. The deletion was in violation of our editorial standards and the post has been reinstated.
The article was (lamely) critical of Dove:
Dove has a long and fabled history of experimenting with the shame women feel about their bodies and posturing that they are the way out of it.... Feeling beautiful is an obligation and a pressure — and sometimes a pleasure, but not always. Feeling beautiful is so much work: work that beauty companies cash in on and exploit.
Gawker attributed the deleting to the fact that Dove advertises at Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed denied that, saying that the post violated a "show don't tell" rule:
When we approach charged topics like body image and feminism, we need to show not tell. (That’s a good rule in general, by the way.) We can and should report on conversations that are happening around something that we have opinions about, but using our own voices (and hence, BuzzFeed’s voice) to advance a personal opinion often isn’t in line with BuzzFeed Life’s tone and editorial mission...

When we write about news-related topics revolving around class, race, and feminism and other heated topics, it’s important that we show the conversation that is happening, or find other people who can give smart and valid quotes to make the point, or, ideally, add to the conversation with something substantively new....
I get it. The "buzz" that belongs in the feed of Buzzfeed is the buzz out there in the world, not the buzz in the writer's head. You're supposed to receive and convey the buzz, not create buzz, or at least that's the way it's supposed to look.

23 comments:

George M. Spencer said...

Something can be beautiful and still be average.

The choice should have been between "Beautiful" and "Ugly" or "Plain."

Anonymous said...

I like the woman @1:43 who looks up at the forced choice and turns around and leaves the manipulative situation altogether.

rhhardin said...

What's being fantasized is the girl and her imaginary guy approach the average door and the guy says, no, you go through the beautiful door.

There's no point being beautiful if it's not for the guy who thinks you are beautiful.

They're just doing it without the actual guy yet.

Ann Althouse said...

"The choice should have been between "Beautiful" and "Ugly" or "Plain.""

I know. For some people, just getting to count as average is all the ego boost they need. There's an implicit "No Uglies Allowed" sign. It's not even considered.

And what's wrong with "average"? Average could be considered great. I've seen studies of facial beauty that show that the faces perceived as most beautiful are actually the most average.

I want a viral video about the greatness of average.

Anonymous said...

Not necessarily. You can be completely alone, say surfing, and it will matter because you'll fit in with your beautiful natural surroundings. It depends what you are sensitive to, but you can actually feel it. Some guys can as well though they might describe it differently, maybe as being in top shape, or whatever.

Ann Althouse said...

"What's being fantasized is the girl and her imaginary guy approach the average door and the guy says, no, you go through the beautiful door."

They have a mother doing that with a daughter at one point.

But I agree. Some of the women going through average may be thinking: How can I look most beautiful? It's by not seeming conceited or concerned about my appearance. I don't need to say I'm beautiful. That's for others to say, and I know they'll say it. So let me look pretty being modest.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Foreign chicks, right on.

The mother-daughter part was cute, I said "aw." I don't think it'll make me purchase Dove soap, though.

rhhardin said...

Two Weeks Notice, the win her back speech, being read to her after its public delivery,

this person, despite being unusually stubborn...and unwilling to compromise and a very poor dresser, is....She's......rather like the building she loves so much. A little rough around the edges, but when you look closely ...absolutely beautiful. And the only one of her kind.

I can't do the delivery justice, see the DVD.

rhhardin said...

I think it's a guy that's being fantasized. The mother is talking for the future guy to her daughter.

That's the grammar of feminine beauty at bottom.

Fen said...

"When we approach charged topics like body image and feminism, we need to show not tell. (That’s a good rule in general, by the way.)"

Can anyone here explain to me what this means?

Fritz said...

The "average" person is beautiful.

http://www.uni-regensburg.de/Fakultaeten/phil_Fak_II/Psychologie/Psy_II/beautycheck/english/durchschnittsgesichter/durchschnittsgesichter.htm

Very few people are actually average.

madAsHell said...

Webb Hubbell's daughter Chelsea is on the cover of Elle magazine. I'm pretty sure I know which door she walked into.

rhhardin said...

Hollywood marriages break up because there are too many guys telling the woman she's beautiful.

rhhardin said...

The woman doesn't have the one guy who tells her she's beautiful, to keep her with him.

Anonymous said...

The hard part was finding the one building in each city that men never go into.

William said...

I wonder if the doors were marked ugly and average if you would get about the same response........Very few fund managers beat the the S&P average......When you're average, you're protected by the herd. Average is the ideal to which we should all aspire. Like alcohol, physical beauty is the source of and the solution to many of life's problems.

Tom said...

This assumes the women read the words above the door in the first place. I suspect many do not. All you have to do is watch your average Walmart or grocery store where people walk through the first open door, regardless of whether it says entrance or exit.

JRoberts said...

"Webb Hubbell's daughter Chelsea is on the cover of Elle magazine. I'm pretty sure I know which door she walked into."

I'm sorry, I didn't see a door labeled "entitled".

Skyler said...

This type of navel gazing. "Oh, am I beautiful or average, I'm so worried I might not know" is retch inducing.

Who flipping cares? Get over your juvenile insecurities. If it's important to you than work to be beautiful. Beauty is simply being healthy and confident.

Implicit in this video is the cliche that society makes it hard on women by creating expectations. Well? Get over yourself and start getting healthy and confident. For the most part you can control that.

Smilin' Jack said...

And what's wrong with "average"? Average could be considered great. I've seen studies of facial beauty that show that the faces perceived as most beautiful are actually the most average.

That's because faces are ugly in so many different ways. Averaging them together is a way of chopping off all the ugliest bits and getting something acceptable. But it won't get you Jennifer Lawrence.

The Godfather said...

Guys are different.

Two doors: One says average. The other says handsome, or stud, or hero -- or handsome studly hero.

NO (literate) guy goes through the average door.

And we won't buy the f*cking soap!

damikesc said...

Do women CONSTANTLY need affirmation? Geez, can they treat women like adults or stop pretending that equality is possible?

Fen said...

"When we approach charged topics like body image and feminism, we need to show not tell. (That’s a good rule in general, by the way.)"

I wasn't being snarky, I really don't understand what they mean by "we need to show not tell"

Can anyone here explain to me what this means?