Dove is all about “Real Beauty”—but its next “real” campaign is only open to women with “flawless skin.” Odd, since the campaign is supposed to “make a statement about all the unrealistic images of women the world is bombarded with daily,” writes Amy Odell in New York. Dove posted an ad on Craigslist looking for “REAL WOMEN ONLY!” (reality show participants need not apply) before revealing requirements like “beautiful hair and skin,” “nice bodies,” and “no scars.”
“The emphasis on being ‘real’ but also being totally flawless is somewhat hilarious and tragic,” writes Hortense on Jezebel. “There is something very gross about all of this, if this ad is legit, in that it speaks to a somewhat creepy trend of casting 'real women' to represent ‘the rest of us’ while still adhering to strict representations of what is traditionally considered beautiful.”
(More Dove stories.)