The Dove Moisture Bar— Ad Review

Amidst thousands of television advertisements on soap and beauty products, each ad is trying to convince the consumer that its product is the best. However, there is a simple yet elegant ad on TV these days which  instead of trying to prove its  superiority over other soaps ads, is rather trying to tell the buyer that it can make one feel beautiful.

The Product

The product Dove moisture bar is a body cleanser. Dove as a company refrains from calling its product a mere soap because it considers ordinary soaps to be harsh on the skin, whereas Dove is mild. It is pH neutral and contains one-fourth hydrating milk, intended to keep the skin clean, fresh and moisturized.

The Advertisement

The advertisement for the Dove moisture bar begins with the elegant flashing of a beautiful message – “Celebrating real women, real stories”. The ad showcases several women taking turns to  give a testimony for the product , “I used my soap – my normal soap – on one side of my face, and on the other, I used Dove. And you know what? The first time I used Dove became the last time I used my soap. Because, after using Dove, my skin felt soft – so soft! Really soft”. The ad concludes with the narrative, “Thousands of women took the Dove face test. They all had the same answer. Dove, with one quarter moisturizing milk, makes skin soft.”

Review

Dove is known for its “real beauty” campaign. Through each of its advertisements, it tries to send out the message, “You’re beautiful.” It encourages women to be who they are, and not the perfect prototype that the world expects them to be.

The moisture bar ad reflects the same idea. It is an appealing ad and in that each  woman  looks natural – happy, modestly dressed and smiling as they talked – looking very comfortable with the product. Unlike other soap advertisements that talk about the soap’s intense exfoliation, cleansing, moisturizing, and beautification of the skin; Dove finds it sufficient to tell its consumers that its moisture bar can make one feel comfortable and beautiful with their skin.

Conveying to the message to its consumers that thousands of women took the Dove face test and found it great on their skin, compels consumers to give the moisture bar a shot. It tells the consumer that Dove is different – try it to feel the difference.

Dove refuses to bow down to the aesthetic convention of beauty products, and instead has simple-looking women sans makeup, in their ads. This way, it manages to capture its customers’ emotions and give them an ego boost. Dove tries to tell them that their skin is already beautiful; all it needs is some moisture to make it even beautiful. The message sent is ‘All skin is beautiful when beautifully moisturized.’

It also seems to me that Dove doesn’t offer a solution to consumers with freckles, pimples and damaged skin. It simply offers to moisturize all kinds of skin through its products.

The ad however, manages to directly connect with its target audience – women of all ages – and communicates the product to them in an elegant way. Among other soap and body cleanser ads , the ad for Dove’s moisture bar stands apart with a clear message driving across every woman’s heart. It clearly has achieved its purpose – because Dove happens to be a very popular product amongst women!

Harshini Shanker