Dove Patches - is the latest campaign empowering or controversial?

This is such a good idea! So many women, young and old, are not confident about their appearance. I always believe that the mind is a powerful thing, and that if you have the right mind set you can do anything! Such an inspirational experiment

I thought this was a great experiment. Most of the time we are told or shown on advertising that by using makeup and certain products and getting certain procedures done makes us more confident. To some extent it can, but I think they did it very well. We are told so many times that products will make us look this or look like that and we begin to believe it, and we start to see false results. But to be honest I agree with Dove, that confidence does truly come from within and its not going to happen with a product that promises you something and doesn't deliver, most are marketing ploys to get people suckered in. I have been sucked into so many of these so called marketing ploys. I don't see this as Dove manipulating and punking people, it was them showing a very caring side, and that they actually want to help people and show them that beauty is within. Good on you Dove :-)

I would have felt really embarrassed if I was part of it, but the placebo effect is very real. Dove is tackling controversial issues. Will always make waves, but if it empowers women, then good on them!

I'm in the "being Punk'd" camp. The dove campaigns are a brilliant marketing plan, instead of shaming you by showing you what you should be, they are cosying up next to you to pretend to be your best buddy. Dove is a Unilever brand, every other brand they sell uses the opposing type of marketing that body shames you to keep up with the trends, so they've probably got you whether you buy into the "Dove message" or not.

This type of campaign isn't about the quality of their products or how well the product actually works, its designed to give you a good impression of the brand and therefore make you more likely to buy it in the store.

Having seen the women in the ad campaigns the hope is to create a similar outcome as you witness in the ads, a placebo effect that makes you feel like the product is doing something more by having that positive psychological reinforcement associated with the brand.This means they can get away with doing less product development and simply sell off a reputation rather than actual results.

I'd rather stick to whether a product actually works rather than the impression that it does.

I love this and yes sometimes the best confidence booster is someone saying something nice to you .. or a compliment ...... everyday ...... esp true for those ladies who maybe have something that they are aware of that makes them feel less sexy (like for example a lazy eye or a scar or birthmark) that cant be fixed but sometimes others focus on ........

wow, Dove always pushes the boundaries of how women perceive ourselves. I personally love that about them. As the mother of three daughters, I have always tried to instil in them that they are downright gorgeous, and to always value themselves. Positive promotions like Dove do help with that. Having said that, we women aren't just about how we look. We are also about 'how' we are as people. No point in being beautiful if we are nasty. That saying "beauty is as beauty does" comes to mind.

I saw that ad recently and I was pretty sure before the ingredients of the patch was revealed that honestly nothing magical was in that patch. I think this was a good campaign and I can see why Fashionista would criticize it since their idea of beauty is based on using whatever products their currently promoting and current trends and a certain body shape rather than being confident as you are without the use of a thousand beauty products, a certain body shape and current fashion trends with Fashionista promotes.

I think that maybe for a campaign it could have been a bit rough due to the fact it would be made public and the women involved could have had negative reactions and created more self esteem and anxiety issues.

I really do like this idea though, placebos are used a lot in medications and so on, it's not an unusual concept and it's well known that subjects will often react and display signs their medication is working unaware that is a placebo. The fact these women overcame these anxieties surrounding their appearance or at least made great progress is amazing! they actually did it on their own and that is way better than using a medication to help it and far healthier in my opinion.

This ad came up on youtube before the video I had chosen to watch came on. Usually I skip all the ads but this one sounded very interesting so I watched it. I loved how it was nothing at the end, I think there have been a lot of studies on placebo effects and how strong they can be. I think this ad was positive, I love dove's messages and their beauty campaigns.

I personally don't think it matters what others (those reporters) think... it is what those women (and every other person) think about themselves! beauty from within regardless of method! It wasn't damaging to their psyche but encouraging. I am all for anything that makes us feel good about ourselves

Good old Placebo effect! I think this was a really creative experiment that emphasises how our self-value and confidence is internally driven. Yes it's a PR campaign but I think it's less manipulation and more getting the public to look at women's issues in an out-of-the-box way.