For those who have not seen these, we will use at least one of the Dove videos as a discussion starter in our high school series this spring, “The Truth About…” where we will talk about the truth about guys, girls, relationships, and sex.  My favorite is the “Evolution” video under “Dove Films.”  Our focus will be primarily on, “From where do we get our identity?”  The point being, of course, our identity is found in Jesus, who bought us with his blood.

Kendall, I have two daughters, both under two, and being a youth pastor has made me frightened about the messages they will receive as they grow up.

the “woman” is so unattractive to boot, who on earth aspires to look this way?

That photo doesn’t even look real. How bizarre.

At my daughter’s high school (single sex Catholic) the graphic arts classes do a photoshop exercise where they doctor their own photos to see how easy it is.  The before and after photos are posted in the halls so the lesson can be extended to all the students.

#1: I’ve seen that “Evolution” video before, and it’s remarkable.  And Dove, I think, deserves to be commended for that campaign.

Photo retouching is a big problem; but even if the industry were forbidden from doing that, it’s still not reasonable for the average person—women or men—to compare themselves to a professional model whose full-time job is looking good.  If all of us had personal trainers and dieticians and hours each day to devote to it, we’d look trimmer and tauter too.

i had heard about this some time ago, glad to see it is getting attention. she is really an attractive lady in real life, unlike this bobblehead picture.

Real men like women with some meet on their bones.  Marilyn Monroe was reportedly a size 16.  Likewise for Jane Mansfield.  I gues NW Bob is a hopeless dionsaur.

Whoops!  Make that meat!

Northwest Bob,

In Marilyn Monroe’s day, a woman with size 16 measurements would correspond to what we in the US would call a size 8 today - not at all plump. This, however, reveals yet another dirty secret of the US women’s fashion industry - adjusting the names of sizes to make women think they are smaller/thinner. The UK has not suffered from this sizing “deflation” (go check the Boden UK or Topshop websites if you want proof).

Notwithstanding the above, even a cursory glance at actresses of the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s and early 50’s will reveal that the “ideal” woman had more meat on her bones than the anorexic ex-models who Hollywood today thinks can act. Keira Knightly, anyone?