dove and self-esteem

Everybody is talking about this Dove commercial where a model is filmed on a high-speed camera, showing her "evolution". It starts with her bared, fresh face, and with the camera rolling, we witness her transformation, putting on a make-up, being photoshoped. It's one of YouTube's most watched videos. It's a sequel to Dove's "real beauty" campaign. But what called my attention was this short (2:41) video. It's about how girls struggle with their self-image trying to fit in one single beauty standard. It's painful to watch these young girls feeling so inadequate. Now, I'm usually suspicious of most brand activism and my cynical self reminds me that what Dove wants, in the end, is to sell more soaps. But, in this case, that's fine. I can sleep with that. Most people need to take shower, and somebody must sell soap. I'd rather have Dove sell more soap than any other brand then.

PS: just a remark, but this idea has a lot of resemblance with a long running campaign in Brazil, promoted by Natura, a local cosmetic brand.