Textual Analysis
Article
Dove Onslaught Video
Watch the film Onslaught made by the Dove beauty products company.
You need to watch the film several times, once possibly with the sound turned off so that you can focus on the images alone, then try to answer the questions below.
Codes and conventions
- What do you think are the main generic codes and conventions at work in this video?
- In what ways do you think the music's changing tempo affects the way the images are edited together?
- To what extent do you think the images are original i.e. created especially for this video and to what extent to you think that they are an example of bricolage? Give reasons and/or examples to support your opinion.
- Consider how intertextuality is being used here, for example what previous knowledge do the video makers assume that the audience has to fully understand the message of the video and the way in which this message is constructed? Do you think these assumptions are reasonable?
- How is the meaning in this video ‘anchored’?
Representation
As the whole video is about representation it is a little difficult to separate out different aspects of representation, however consider the overall message of the video and what it is saying about media representations of women.
- What do you think is the intended ‘dominant reading’?
- It is possible of course to have aberrant readings, for example this is one response from a YouTube viewer:
“what's wrong with that?? its better for businesses, especially the cosmetics, medical and surgical fields, and magazines. without brainwashing, the country would be broke, and millions would be out of jobs. billions would be ugly, flat-chested, and disheveled, and unkept. We'd be worse off than we are now.”
- How would you respond to this?
- To what extent do you think this video challenges or supports dominant gender ideology?
Consider also the expression of the girl at the start of the video and in particular the way in which she starts to smile just before the pace of the film and music speed up. Her hair is blow around a little by some wind or breeze, assuming that this is deliberate try to say why the video makers might have added this effect.
The background images suggest that the girl and the others shown at the end are in America.
- Why do you think this is?
- Do you think that it affects the impact of the video?
Institution
- Why do you think Dove is running this campaign?
- What are the benefits for it as a commercial company?
- Do you think that Dove is being cynical in running videos like this? For example a viewer at YouTube commented:
“While this video is amazing and shows how perceptions of beauty are distorted in the media, this is still just Dove trying to sell soap and is hardly something they truly believe in. The same company that owns Dove products, Unilever, makes Axe, who's ads I don't think I need to refer you to for you to know that they generally consist of many thin, made-up women fighting over a man. What a sham[sic].”
- To what extent to you agree/disagree with this statement?
(If you are unfamiliar with Axe commercial an example can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3u6Qh099AK0 where you can join in on a discussion of the merits (or otherwise) of the Dove campaign.)
There is various parodies of the Dove campaign videos available on YouTube. See for example the parody of the evolution advert at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-kSZsvBY-A&feature=related (parody). At the end it says “No one wants to look at ugly people”.
Also see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25by9mgBgKo&feature=related which is aimed at a cynical interpretation of the Dove campaign and ends with the tag line “Help us raise money — buy our products”.
Audience
- Who do you think is the intended audience for this video and others made by Dove?
- Why do you think that the films are posted on the Dove website and YouTube?
- How does this video and the others made by Dove speak to its audience, what it its ‘mode of address’?
- To what extent is this video ‘polysemic’? Do you think different people will respond in different ways to this and other Dove videos? For example will men view the messages differently to women? How will age influence different readings? Class? Ethnicity?
Note how many times the various Dove films (and their parodies) have been viewed, listed as ‘favourites’ and rated.
- How important do you think the discussion forums are to the success (or otherwise) of the Dove campaign?
- Why do you think people send in their comments?
Other Dove adverts can be found at:
- http://www.tellyads.com/show_movie.php?filename=TA2517&advertiser=Dove (pro-age)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U (evolution)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RADYaTvTGts&feature=related (campaign for real beauty)
This video and other films made by Dove are cited as examples of ‘viral marketing’.
- What does this mean and how does it work?
- Do you think it is effective? If so in what ways and if not, why not?
