Waveland Media Analysis

Improved Essays
- Bryant, J., Thompson, S. & Finklea, B. W. (2013). Fundamentals of Media Effects (2nd
Ed.). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press.
- In Chapter Nineteen, the authors briefly mentioned Social Comparison Theory that was initially proposed by Leon Festinger in 1954. This theory suggests that individuals often evaluate their own thoughts and capabilities by comparing themselves to others in the society, in order to gain certainty in defining their self. Based on this theory, viewers (primarily females) of this Dove ad campaign will compare themselves to the strong-minded and independent women in the ad; consequently, viewers can gain self-enhancement, and get their self-esteem improved.

- Bryant, J., Thompson, S. & Finklea, B. W. (2013).
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As a result of the study, when describing their social skills, both male and female participants showed the usual self-enhancing tendencies, but when describing their weight and body shape, only males showed this tendency. This suggests that the Dove ad campaign, which rebuts the stereotypical beauty standards of women will bring up an enhancement on female’s self-image.

- Doswell, Willa; Braxter, Betty; Cha, EunSeok; Kim, Kevin (2011). "Testing the Theory of Reasoned Action in Explaining Sexual Behavior Among African American Young Teen Girls". Journal of Pediatric Nursing.
- This empirical study examined Theory of Reasoned Action by using the baseline data from a longitudinal randomized clinical trialwere, in which 198 middle-school girls aged 11 to 14 years were recruited. The study revealed that as girls aged, owing to the given personal experiences, role models,and the environment, their attitudes toward engaing in early secul behavior become more and more permissive, and the intention became stronger and stronger. This suggests that the audiences of this ad can embrace a different intention and perception about how others think about the stereotypical standards of beauty after seeing role models depicted in the
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Based on this theory, viewers (primarily females) of this Dove ad campaign will compare themselves to the strong-minded and independent women who don’t border on the social ideals in the ad, in order to complete plausible self-evaluation; consequently, the thought and ability for women to define their own standards of beauty are confirmed, and viewers can gain self-enhancement, as well as get their self-esteem improved. The audiences will draw the conclusion that the stereotypical beauty standards of female can’t stop them from achieving their full potential.
The diversity of women who are present in the clip helps the audiences find models who share some distinctive characteristics with them, and hence are relatable and intimate. The audience can easily draw comparison between themselves to those women. (Wood,

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