The Dove-Evolution Commercial

Our attractiveness plays a significant role in how we are perceived by others. A very common saying is, “What matters is what's on the inside, not the outside,” but in our society this is not true at all. Attractive people are the faces of businesses, actors and actresses, most individuals that we look up to in our modern society. Why is this? Well in Chapter 6 of, “Nonverbal Communication in Human Interaction,” it is stated that our attractiveness does in fact play a major role in how we are perceived by others, and what others think of us. “Numerous studies reveal that physically attractive people are perceived to exceed unattractive people on a wide range of socially desirable evaluations that include success, personality, popularity, sociability, …show more content…
The video “Dove - Evolution Commercial” brings this issue to light, showing how many changes are made to those who are put on billboards. It starts with a woman in a natural state, no makeup or anything. They then cover her face with makeup, and take a photo and alter it to be fit for a billboard. They heavily alter her face. They change practically every feature that this woman has. They change her neck. Her hair, her shoulders, eyes, chin and head shape (Zephoria, 2006). The body goals that are portrayed through advertising are simply unrealistic, but we still do things like this, why? Well, it is simply because more attractive people are perceived better by the general populous. It was found that, “ the face is so central in judgments of attractiveness, it is no surprise that it is the source of stereotyping—often based on glances of 1 second or less. People’s judgments suggest that they believe the human face reveals important information about a person’s personality.” This is likely the reason that we continue to alter people to these unrealistic standards, because people will perceive the product as more attractive if an attractive person is using it (Knapp, Hall, & Horgan, 2014, p. …show more content…
Those who are attractive are often more liked and better judged by others, received lesser sentences in court, receive more help from teachers in school, and are used more often in pop culture and advertisements. We live in a society that favors attractive people, and it can be easily seen. Videos like the Dove one that I spoke about prove that attractiveness is important to advertisers, but they provide an unrealistic body goal. Our definition of attractive is nearly unattainable because of our ability to alter the way that people look. Attractiveness is important and it's our human nature to be attracted to the more attractive individuals and surround ourselves with people who we portray as