SURVEY ON SHOPPING MALL

A PROJECT

SUBMITTED AS A PARTIAL REQUIREMENT FOR M.COM.- I DEGREE

BY

MAMTA BELDAR
(Roll No.235 )
THE GUIDANCE OF
DR SUSHAMA PATIL
Association professor and Head of the Research Management Department

RAMANAND ARYA D.A.V. COLLEGE

BHANDUP (E)
MUMBAI 400 042
October, 2015

Title of the Project

Name of the Candidate

SURVEY ON SHOPPING MALL

Name and Designation of the Guide :

MAMTA BELDAR

DR SUSHAMA PATIL
Association Professor and Head, Research
Management Department

Place of Research

Ramanand Arya D.A.V. College, Bhandup

(E)
Mumbai -400 042

Date of Submission :

Dated: --/--/2015

Signature of the Student

Signature of the Guide

Signature of External Examiner

CERTIFICATION

This is to certify that the project Titled SURVEY ON SHOPPING MALL is being
submitted by me in partial fulfillment of the course in Research Management at M.Com. Part
II during 2015-16.

Date:

Signature

DECLARATION

I,MAMTA BELDAR student of M.Com-II, Semester-III Roll No.235 hereby Declare that the
Project Title Submitted by me to university of Mumbai for the M.COM-II, Semester-III
Examination in SURVEY ON SHOPPING MALL the paper of management during the
academic year 2015-2016 is based on original work carried by me under the guidance and
supervision DR SUSHAMA PATIL .Father state that this work is original and has not been
submitted to any other university for the examination.

Date:

Signature

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I own a great many thanks to a great many people who helped and supported
me during the writing of this project. My deepest thanks to Lecturer, DR SUSHAMA PATIL
the Guide of the project for guiding and correcting various documents of mine with attention
and care. He has taken pain to go through the project and make necessary correction as and
when needed.
I would also thank my Institution and my faculty members without whom this
project would have been a distant reality. I also extend my heartfelt thanks to my family and
well-wishers.

Date:

Signature

INDEX

SR NO.

TITLE

PAGE
NO.

SURVEY ON SHOPPING MALL

1.

Introduction

2.

Historical Perspective/Background

3.

Review of Literature

16

4.

Research Methodology

20

5.

Findings

26

6.

Conclusion

35

7.

References

36

SURVEY ON SHOPPING MALL

CHAPTER 1

1.1 INTRODUCTION
This exploratory study attempts to understand the cognitive responses, product involvement
and attitudes women hold about model types depicted in Dove beauty product advertisements
using face-to-face interviews. Qualitative Data Research: The Interview The method this
study applies to gather data is the interview, a technique popular among those who conduct
qualitative inquiries. Lind of (1995) explains the importance of qualitative research in
understanding a particular phenomenon: In qualitative research, one interviews people to
understand their perspectives on a scene, to retrieve experience from the past, to gain expert
insight or information, to obtain descriptions of events or scenes that are normally
unavailable for observation, to foster trust, to understand a sensitive or intimate relationship,
or to analyze certain kinds of discourse. ... Qualitative inquiry is personal, involved inquiry. If
we hope to understand how people choose to express themselves in everyday life, we must
come to terms with our own reasons for studying them. (p. 5) There are many reasons why
interviews are an attractive method for studying attitudes, product involvement, and audience
schemas. Among others, they can be conducted in a timely manner; they are low-cost; they
offer flexibility in questioning because the interviewer can change questions and the sequence
of questioning to adapt to the flow of conversation; they allow participants to clarify what is
being asked; and they allow the interviewer to ask for elaborations and further explanations
(Wimmer & Dominick, 2006). An interview produces data that is deep and rich. Lind of
(1995) writes, At its best, the qualitative interview creates an event in which one person (the
interviewer) encourages another person to articulate interests or experiences freely. The
interviews ability to access experiential or subjective realities has made it a preeminent
method in communication and the other social sciences ... Stated simply, the researcher
defines a purpose for such conversation to occur, and selects certain social actors to advance
the conversational purpose. The researcher then elicits talk about their experiences. Through
this method, the communication researcher tries to gain a critical vantage point on the sense
making in communicative performances and practices ... Even though interviews cannot lead
a re searcher directly to an event, at least to a completely accurate record of an event, they do
enable him or her to learn about things that cannot be observed directly by other means.
(Patton, 1990, as cited in Lendl of, 1995, pp. 164, 165, 166) The effectiveness of the
interview depends on the ability of the interviewer to keep the conversation on track and
make sure the respondents interpret the questions correctly and fully. Sampling Technique A

non-probability volunteer sample of women ages 20to 60, who reside in Ames, Iowa, were
used as interview participants. The age range was chosen to select participants who are the
prime targets for beauty advertising and who are likely to have had significant exposure to
magazines that ran Dove ads. Volunteers were recruited through flyers posted at local fitness
clubs, restaurants, around Iowa State University, and discount shopping centers. The
interviews were conducted at a location preferred by the interviewee. Otherwise, the default
location of the interviews was the focus group facility of the Greenlee School of Journalism
and Communication in Hamilton Hall. Interviewing continued until substantial redundancy in
responses and participant ages was reached. Interview Procedure Each participant was asked
to read and sign an informed consent form at the beginning of the interview. Confidentiality
was ensured as the participants were addressed only by their first names. In order to establish
a level of trust, the full purpose of the study was stated, along with the intention to audio tape
the sessions and transcribe the recordings into a word-processed document. The participants
were told they can request the recorder to be turned off at any time. The participants were
interviewed one at a time. The interviewer then introduced herself. The interviewer opened a
general discussion of beauty advertising to make the participant more comfortable with the
topic of the interview. The participant was then asked to look at different ads from the
original Dove
1.2. Campaign for Real Beauty
campaign. These ads ran in popular womens magazines from late 2004 through 2006. Next,
the interviewee viewed ads currently running in magazines
that feature more traditional-looking, skinnier models. The questions asked of participants are
listed in Appendix C. The Structured Questionnaire
The participants responded to a series of 17 questions that fall under the following categories:
(1) exposure to magazines,
(2) attention paid to beauty product ads seen in those magazines
(3) opinions about beauty product ads in general,
(4) factors they consider when purchasing beauty products,
(5) familiarity with the Dove ads and the products they endorse,
(6) their opinion of these ads, and
(7) the level of involvement elicited by the ads.
Ambiguous answers and hesitant remarks were clarified using prompts and follow-up
explanations. The audio tapes were transcribed and analyzed. The interviewer also took notes

during the process, noting body language, hesitations or quick responses, and overall
reactions. The Advertisements
The participants were exposed to ads featuring non-traditional or traditional models.

CHAPTER 2
2.1.Historical Perspective/Background

2.1.1.Non-traditional model advertisements.

For the purpose of this study, non-traditional models are defined as women who are larger
than size 6, with more natural-looking hairstyles and hair color, facial features, skin color,
and overall appearance of the body. Participants were shown the following ads in no
particular order:
1. Dove Pro-Age products. Printed from http://www.doveproage.com/ads_mag.asp. (Single
page, full color). (Figures 1a, 1b)
2. Dove Intensive Firming products. Glamour, August 2005, p. 52-53. (Double page spread,
full color). (Figures 2a, 2b)

2.1.2.Traditional model advertisements.

Traditional-looking models are defined in this study as those with slimmer figures, matching
thinness ideals; they therefore appear sexier. Traditional models have body sizes 0-2, with
facial and body features not common to the
average person, such as large, wide-set eyes, largelips, and clear, flawless skin. These models
are featured in the following ads:
1.Dove Go Fresh. US Weekly, April 7, 2008, p. 35. (Single page, full color).
(Figure 4a)
2.Dove Supreme Cream Oil Body Wash. Shape, May 2008, p. 82. (Single page, full color).
(Figure 4b) Data Analysis After each interview, the audio recording was transcribed onto
word processing documents for analysis and referral. Additionally, field notes and
observations were recorded. The transcripts were analyzed to determine the themes, such as
images of the body
and self-identification, advertisement awareness, and feelings toward the

2.1.3Campaign for Real Beauty

advertisements. Enhancing the Validity of Findings The procedure outlined above guarantees
an audit trail, the result of efforts to keep a permanent record of the original data used for
analysis and the researchers comments and
analysis methods. An audit trail is but one of the practices recommended by Maykut and
More house (1994) to strengthen the validity of qualitative research findings. The original
data (audio files) were stored electronically for review. The interview transcripts were also

kept for reference. To further strengthen trustworthiness and validity ,the study also
conducted member
checks. Here, research participants were asked to read the notes and assess if their thoughts
have been accurately described. Each interview participant was informed she would be able
to see the comments. After appropriate selections
were taken from their interview and integrated into the study, a confirmation check was made
with participants. Only one participant thought her comments were taken out of context in
one sentence and asked that it be corrected.
The researcher also regularly consulted with the thesis committee members
and other experts to cross-check the findings and their interpretations to minimize bias
(Wimmer & Dominick, 2006, p. 120).

CHAPTER 3
3.1.LITRATURE OF REVIEW
This study explores the cognitive responses, attitudes, and product involvement of female
consumers to two kinds of models featured in the Dove beauty product ads. Data were
gathered through face-to-face interviews in which participants were given the opportunity to

freely share their thoughts, reactions, and beliefs about female images of the body in the
media, specifically in beauty product advertisements. Twelve females, 21- to 52-years-old,
volunteered t
o participate in the study. Participants were recruited through flyers posted throughout the
Ames, Iowa community, in places such as health clubs, coffee shops, grocery stores, Iowa
State University campus buildings, and discount shopping centers . All interviews occurred
face-to-face at a location of the participants choice, such as a coffee shop or the library. The
interviews lasted
between 15 and 45 minutes. Each was audio-digitally recorded, with the participants
permission, and each MP3 sound file was transcribed into a word processing document. The
Participant Profiles In order to understand each participant to a better degree, a short synopsis
of their demographic and other personal characteristics is first provided. This information
helped thresh out factors that may have influenced their perception of female images of the
body
and/or their attitude toward beauty-product advertisements. Participant demographics reveal a
mean age of 29 years, with 83 percent of participants classifying themselves as Caucasian,
and 75 percent having at least a college education. Although participants were not asked
about their personal body image or body type, some participants chose to comment, or relate
their own body issues to the interview questions. This added depth to the interviews and
allowed for a better understanding of individual schemas and thought processes.

Cassidy
Cassidy is a 35-year-old graduate student at a university in central Iowa. She is
Caucasian, unmarried and has no children. She works on campus as a teaching assistant for
the Womens Studies program. Cassidy is very familiar with many of todays top-selling
magazines, such as
O, Redbook, and the so-called guilty pleasure magazines, such as those
featuring celebrity information and soap opera magazines. Cassidy was familiar with the
Dove because she felt they spoke to her and because she can better relate to the body types
and women portrayed in them. Cassidy has a strong understanding of the Dove ads featured
in the which she uses as teaching examples in the undergraduate classes she teaches. She is
very much aware of her own bodily appearance in comparison to mediated images of women.

Laina
One of the youngest participants, Laina is a single, 21-year-old Asian. Laina was one of the
few who readily admitted she pays close attention to beauty product advertisements in
magazines and that these ads influence her buying d
ecisions. Laina was familiar with a current television advertisement (Bombardment) and
recalls having seen the Pro-Age advertisements before. Lainas frequent references to
television shows, beauty magazines, and recollection of specific advertisements indicate high
exposure to the media and mediated messages. She considers herself to be very aware of the
many different kinds of beauty product advertisements and the images of the body they
convey through the endorsers they feature.

Jessica
Jessica is a 24-year-old divorced Caucasian without children. She attended cosmetology
school, but now works in newspaper advertising. She describes herself as an artist, often
using an artistic eye when evaluating advertisements. She knows when an ad and/or the
model look unique. Many times, she says, the model in an ad is forgettable. She was
familiar with the Dove

Campaign for Real Beauty

advertisements she has seen in magazines. For Jessica, it is the product ingredients, rather
than the advertisement, that play a large part in what beauty products she purchases. She also
relies on friends recommendations and the smell of the product to guide her decision.
Although well aware of the images of the body portrayed in the mainstream media, Jessica
did not comment on her own body shape or size.

Becka
Becka, 23, is a graduate student in biochemistry, biophysics, and molecular biology at a
university in central Iowa. She aspires to get her Ph.D. in psychology. At the time of the
interview, Becka was not married and did not indicate if she has children. She is Caucasian.
Becka acknowledges that while she did not want to pay much attention to beauty-product
advertisements, she knew they affect her thoughts and purchasing decisions. Her knowledge

of psychology and sub-conscious thinking played alarge role in her interpretations of the
advertisements.

Ashley
An undergraduate student majoring in graphic design and journalism at a university in central
Iowa, Ashley is 23, Caucasian, unmarried, and does not have children. She works part-time
on campus for a communications office. A
shley grew up in rural Iowa, but has quickly acclimated herself to larger cities. She is anxious
to graduate in the spring of 2009, and considers herself very familiar with the mainstream
media due to her academic training and personal interests. She reads

Cosmopolitan, People, and Print

(a design magazine) mainly to kill time or to escape. Ashleys knowledge of graphic design
and imaging programs played a part in how she viewed ads. She understands that photos had
tobe altered to make the product and the models look better, but she is also a consumer who
makes judgments about what to buy despite what advertisements say.

Krista
Krista is a 25-year-old graduate student at a university in central Iowa. She is Caucasian and
the mother of a young son. One of her favorite magazines is

Shape
where she finds information about fitness and exercise, and a lot of beauty product
advertisements. While Krista considers herself very aware of beauty product advertisements
and the images of the body they convey, she thinks .

CHAPTER 4
4.1. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
A Critique of Doves Campaign for Real Beauty
In 2004, Dove launched their Campaign for Real Beauty in order to alter womens beliefs
about the definition of beautiful. The campaign consists of four separate, yet interrelated

phases of marketing. The first phase utilizes the print advertising medium. Dove focuses on
featuring women of all shapes and ethnic groups in these initial advertisements. The second
phase of advertising targets young women and uses commercial advertising on television.
The third phase features older women in print advertisement that focuses solely on the 50+
age range. The last, and most current, phase of this campaign is a viral video that has been
spread on social media newsfeeds across the country. While Dove argues that these four
phases are meant to change womens perceptions of beautiful, I argue that they fall short of
their goal for several reasons. Even if their intentions are ethical, which I argue they are not,
the actual advertisements lack several key factors, rendering them useless. Throughout this
paper, I discuss several of the campaigns shortcomings. These shortcomings include the
campaigns failures in relation to Habermas notion of the public sphere, mens perceptions
and how they are affected by the campaign (and, therefore affecting womens perceptions),
and the prominence of male gaze in media. Also, the categorizing of the women who are
invited to participate in the online forums of Dove s campaign as well as the exclusion of
women who are naturally thin, and therefore excluded from the campaigns tag line, Real
Women Have Real Curves, render the Campaign for Real Beauty useless. In addition, I
explain the dire financial crisis Dove was facing before developing this campaign and their
profits skyrocketing as a result of it, look into studies conducted about advertisements and
how consumers are able to create brand loyalty through calculated advertising campaigns
developed by brands, and finally, highlight the inconsistenc Doves Campaign for Real
Beauty when contrasted against their sister companys Axes advertisements featuring
scantily clad models.
I conclude with a look at the medical side effects that accompany the use of Doves
Campaign for Real Beauty products. There are several chemicals used in these products that
have adverse health effects on human skin as well as the environment, further encouraging
consumers to take a second look at this seemingly revolutionary campaign. Doves Campaign
for Real Beauty
According to Doves website, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty is a marketing campaign
established in order to widen the definition of beauty as well as provoke discussion on
what our society deems beautiful. In 2004, Dove employed researchers to conduct a survey
in order to study how comfortable women are with using the word to describe themselves;
their level of satisfaction with their own beauty; its impact on their sense of well-being; and,

how important it is to them (Etcoff et al. 9). The results of this study showed that only 2% of
women in the 10 countries where the interviews were conducted would chose the word
beautifulto describe themselves, while even fewer chose the adjectives sexy and
gorgeous
(Ercoff et al. 10). The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was created soon after with the hope
of raising that 2% statistic. The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty was launched in three
separate, yet interrelated, phases. The first phase was launched in 2004 with a majority of its
advertising focused on the print medium such as billboards and magazine. The initial
advertisements of this phase featured
non-models of all different sizes and ethnic backgrounds in hopes of challenging the trend of
solely white, tall and thin female models. In one of the largest print campaigns of the first
phase Dove featured twelve women of varying sizes and skin color in white undergarments.
The models have their arms around one another and are wearing pearly white smiles as the
only accessory to their white bra and panties. The posture and facial expressions promote a
sense of acceptance among one another, while the smiling faces portray confidence in their
bodies despite the fact that they dont fit western societies normalized version of beautiful.
The first phases models appear to range in age from early 20s to late 30s. All of the women,
in the large ads as well as the smaller ads designed for magazines, ae what our sociel nicely
deems curvy. There is also a noticeable lack of blonde hair in all the advertisements that
ran during this phase. The campaigns goal was to promote a more natural and obtainable
beauty for our society, which has otherwise idolized models and actresses that seem to never
be larger than a size 2. Dove added an extra twist to this first round of advertisements by
giving viewers the option of going online and submitting their thoughts about these new
models via online voting polls. Smaller ads shown in magazines had simple white font
statements featured next to the models asking questions such as Flawless or Flawed?
Oversized or Outstanding? and Fit or Fat? with a check box next to each adjective.
Consumers could then go online and find that particular advertisement and check the box that
they deemed appropriate for the model.
Two years later, in 2006, Dove began its second phase of the Campaign for Real Beauty, this
time reaching out to young teenage girls via commercial advertising. Keeping in mind these
young girls would be more likely to watch TV commercials as opposed to viewing
advertisements in a womens magazine (where the first phase of campaigns had been mostly

prominent), Dove customized this second phase to short films or commercials to be viewed
on the television. This phase of the campaign, according to Dove.com, was prompted by
Spains ban of overly thin models on the runways of its weekly fashion show in 2006. As
stated on CNN.com, Spain was the first country in the world to ban under weight and sickly
looking models from the catwalks of their annual fashion week. One reporter wrote,
Madrid's fashion week has turned away underweight models after protests that girls and
young women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks and developing eating disorders
(CNN.com 2). Dove harnessed this notion and produced a short film called Evolution to
show teenage girls how unobtainable these runways models looks really were.
Evolution is a time warped, short film of an average woman evolving into a model for
advertisement purposes. It opens with the woman sitting in front of a mirror in a simple white
tank top with no makeup on. A team then begins to transform her in accelerated time right
before the viewers eyes. First, the team applies face makeup, covering up her skin blemishes
and dark spots to give her a creamy, even complexion. Second, they also add dark, smoky eye
makeup,
drawing attention to her blue eyes while giving her eyes the appearance of being upturned
and catlike. Third, her eyebrows are darkened and shaped into uniformed arches while her
lips are glossed to perfection. Finally, the team curls and adds volume to her hair to give
hercurls an effortless beachy appearance while applying fake eyelashes.
After her makeup transformation, Evolution gives the viewers an inside look at her beauty
shoot. The finalized portrait is then chosen and edited for marketing. However, the shot
chosen isnt good enough as is; editors then enhance and edit the photo for mass
consumption.
The editors first order of business is plumping her lips to give them a more full and luscious
appearance. Her eyelashes are lengthened and her neck is concaved in order for it to appear
longer and thinner. All the while, the entire image is being airbrushed, focusing heavily on the
models check bones and hair. Lastly, her eyes are made larger and more doe like as well as
her checks being sunken in order to make her check bones appear more prominent. The short
film than shows the final edited advertisement on a billboard promoting foundation makeup.
As the film ends, No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted appears in white font on
a black screen before the video completely fades out to black.

Evolution created such a stir on Doves online blogs, they continued the second phase with
another commercial advertisement called Little Girls. Aiming to reach an even larger
audience, Dove launched this commercial for the first time during the Super Bowl. The Super
Bowl estimates 111 million viewers a game and, according to Forbes, an estimated 8.4% said
they were influenced enough

by Super

Bowl

commercials

to purchase their

products(Bickle.1). The main focus of the Little Girls commercial is to highlight the
insecurities young girls feel while growing up in a beauty driven society. The girls featured in
this commercial range from 10 to 13 years in age and the main portion of the commercial
consists of quick shots of these young girls looking into the camera with forlorn and dejected
facial expressions. On every other shot, an insecurity appears in white font next to the young
girl, as if to show what she is thinking. Some of the insecurities featured are: I hate my
freckles, Wishes she were blonde, and Thinks she is ugly. Still aligning with the theme
from the first phase of the campaign, most of the girls are ethnic groups others than
Caucasian and there are very few blondes shown.
After the screen shot of these girls and their insecurities, black font appears on a white screen
stating, Lets change their minds. The commercial then moves into shots of the same young
girls, however, this time they are dancing and smiling in front of the camera instead of
looking gloomy. The next screen, featuring a white backdrop and black font, shows The
Dove Self Esteem Fund before scanning to a young girl with glasses smiling with Because
every girl deserves to feel beautiful written on the bottom left of the screen. The last portion
of the film features the girls with insecurities, that werent already shown dancing happily,
with the statement and to see how beautiful she really is next to her head before fading into
the Doves slogan for the Real Beauty Campaign.
The final installment of the second phase is a video titled Onslaught that was produced in
order for viewers to understand better the stress young girls encounter through exposure to
media and advertising to be beautiful. The film starts with a red haired, blue-eyed pre-teen
girl smiling into the camera. The film then quickly jumps to fast-forwarded screen shots of
advertisements, commercials, and videos promoting what our society deems beautiful.
Models faces, breasts, legs, and butts on advertisements promoting beauty products are
shown in rapid-fire screen shots. The video momentarily slows after 20 seconds showing
women dressed in nothing more than booty shorts and push up bras dancing for a music
video. The rapid fire advertisements are then shown again for a few seconds before the video

slows to show amontage of commercials featuring women trying to sell you quick, easy
fixpills that will make you younger, thinner, firmer etc.
The next portion of Onslaught focuses mainly on internalized body image. A girl in her bra
and underwear is shown on a scale in time warp going from heavy to scarily thin and back to
heavy again. Rapid-fire shots show salads and healthy foods being eaten before the girl on the
scale is shown gaining and loosing weight yet again. The video then quickly shows the girl in
front of the toilet purging the food she just ate. Lastly, Onslaught focuses on plastic surgery.
The video shows rapid-fire shots of women going under the knife for cosmetic procedures
such as breast implants, lip fillers and Botox. To end the film, a group of 6 young girls are
shown walking across a crosswalk followed by white font stating Talk to your daughter
before the beauty industry does. The film ends with the same red haired girl shown in the
beginning walking across the same crosswalk alone, erasing the words on the screen.
The third phase of the Doves Campaign for Real Beauty was to promote beauty for women
in the 50+ age range. Dove went back to the first phases use of print ads for this final phase.
Some advertisements featured the original images with checkboxes next to descriptive
adjectives, while some simply featured a single woman with simple slogans written
underneath her.
In this third phase, the check box advertisements have sayings next to the models such as
Wrinkled or Wonderful? and Grey or Gorgeous? All these advertisements are headshots,
featuring only the models heads and necks. The models for this third phase of advertisements
are elderly and proudly flaunt graying hairs and wrinkles. Each woman smiles directly into
the camera exuding an air of confidence despite her age and flaws being placed in the
limelight. In other advertisements of the third phase, elderly women are shown in full body
shots, completely nude, with a slogan underneath them stating Too old to be an anti-aging
ad. Similar to the check box advertisements, these women proudly display their graying hair,
wrinkles, and age spots. Unlike the check box ads, however, these women are shown in full
body shots. Their body type is in alignment with the first phase of the campaign, featuring
only curvy women that are not a typical model. Also similar to the first phases ads, these
women are shown smiling confidently into the camera appearing confident and happy.
Just recently, in April 2013, Dove seems to have launched a fourth phase of their Real
Beauty Campaign. This emerging phase focuses less on particular age groups of women, and
more on womens perceptions of themselves as a whole, as well as utilizing the growing

popularity of social media and its effective means of circulating information to a wide
audience. In this new promotional launch, Dove released a viral video about womens
perceptions of themselves. Dove had women sit down with a retired police sketch artists and
describe themselves. The sketch artist never saw the women, and the women did not know
what the man was doing behind the curtain. He simply asked them questions about their
facial appearance and sketched accordingly.
Dove then had a second party come in and describe the women the sketch artist had already
drawn. These second party witnesses had met briefly with the women in a waiting room, and
were then asked the same questions the sketch artist asked the models, and he drewa sketch
according to their answers. After all this was completed, the sketch artist hung the two
sketches, one from the woman herself and another from a witness describing her, side by
side.
The women were then invited in to see what the man had been doing behind the curtain. The
video then focuses on the womens reaction to the striking differences between the two
sketches. Some women cry, while some smile and laugh, but it is obvious that all of these
women are deeply affected by the difference in the way they describe themselves as
compared to the way other people describe them. When one woman is asked to describe what
she sees, she says the sketch she described of herself looks more closed off. Fatter. While
the other sketch looks friendly and happy. Another women said she should be more
grateful of her natural beauty, when she is interviewed. Ultimately, the sketch artist asks,
Do you think you are more beautiful then you say? and the women answer several versions
of the answer yes. The video ends with a white background with writing stating, You are
more beautiful than you think. The next screen says, Watch the whole experience at
dove.com/real beauty sketches. The final screen shows the Dove logo on a plain white
background. There is no doubt that our media horribly stereotypes women. One must simply
watch the short video Onslaught, produced by Doves Campaign for Real Beauty to see the
unrealistic images women and girls are bombarded with on a daily basis via multiple media
outlets.
TV shows, movies, and advertisements alike lead women to believe that only a small and
elite portion of our population can ever reside in the realm of our societys idea of
beautiful. The Doves Campaign for Real Beauty drives home the very real point that

women in our society are exposed to unrealistic and unobtainable goals by the media
messages that saturates our lives. Interpreting Doves Campaign for Real Beauty
It appears the campaigns main objective to change womens perceptions of what it really
means to be beautiful. By choosing the campaign slogan Real Women Have Real Curves,
Dove drives home the main focus of their campaign: to raise the percentages of women in the
world who would describe themselves as beautiful from the current dismal statistic of 2%
(Etcoff et al. 10). However, after analyzing Doves marketing choices for the Campaign for
Real Beauty, I will show how this campaign falls grossly short of what it claims they aim to
achieve. First, I will discuss the campaigns shortcomings in relation to Habermas notion of
the public sphere. According to Jurgen Habermas, the public sphere is a realm of our social
life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed. Access is guaranteed to
all citizens (49). As of right now, the mass media public sphere tell us that in order to be
beautiful one must have long hair, big breasts, and a small waist. According to Habermas
definition of the public sphere, access must be granted to all citizens and changes can only
occur once society as a whole changes their opinion from the current status quo (49). Doves
Campaign for Real Beauty only allows women participation in the public sphere because
their advertisements are geared solely towards reaching women as an audience. Social
psychologist Carol Tavris states that mens conception of female beauty is also shaped by the
same advertising that has a negative affect on women, which then adds substantially more
pressure on women to meet unrealistic standards (Dye 119). For decades now, mens
perceptions of what constitutes female beauty have been influenced by the same
advertisements that produce negative affects on womens self esteem. Due to advertisements
portrayals of beauty, the appearances women strive to obtain are the same appearances men
strive to possess in the women they find attractive enough to pursue. Therefore, the Doves
Campaign for Real Beauty may help women realize beauty is a much broader term than
advertising leads us to believe, however, the fact that men are not targeted by this marketing
campaign brings the campaigns main objective to a screeching halt within the public sphere.
Chicago Sun Timescolumnist Richard Roeper reacted to the Doves campaign for Real
Beauty by stating:
I find these Dove ads a little unsettling. If I want to see plump gals baring too much skin,

I'll go to Taste of Chicago, OK? When we're talking women in their underwear on billboards
outside my living room windows, give me the fantasy babes, please. If that makes me sound
superficial, shallow and sexist -- well yes, I'm a man (Pozner 1)
.

CHAPTER 5
5.1.FINDINGS

In advertisements, the verbal mode of the message is communicated through linguistic

choices, while the visual mode is communicated through forms, depths, colors, and other
physical features. The language features of English Advertisements are divided into
subgroups, which are the lexical features, the syntactic features, and the rhetorical features, in
addition to other distinctive ones. Studying and analyzing these features in Dove
advertisements will identify the role of words in producing an effective message.
At lexical level, nouns are widely used as brand names. They are considered as an essential
element of advertisings influence on consumer memory; in other words, brand names help
the consumer to always remember the advertised product, and therefore to continue to
repurchase it. Monosyllabic and simple words, such as get, pair, check, join and new, are
often used. Compounds and coinages are constantly invented, and even some of them are
added to our modern English vocabulary.
At syntactical level, simple statements are often used. Sentences in advertisements are usually
short. Some of the short sentences are elliptical sentences, which are used to improve the
effectiveness of advertising. Imperative sentences and interrogative sentences are also
common in advertisements. In addition to exclamatory sentences which are frequently used in
order to deliver the information of an advertisement in a more interesting way, and thus
advertisers can successfully encourage the consumers to buy their products.

At the rhetorical level, similes and metaphors are used in advertisements to vividly highlight
the characteristics, or special features or functions, of the advertised products or services. The
effectiveness of personification, in English advertisements, lies in its ability to provide
products with emotion and liveliness. Puns make advertisements more meaningful and
interesting, while alliteration renders advertisements more effective and rhythmical. Through
the use of hyperbole, advertisements become also effective, emotional and humorous. Lastly,
repetition is often designed to make advertisements more attractive, impressive and
memorable.
No matter which structure and what words are used in an advertisement, they all serve the
purpose of attracting the audience, conveying necessary information to them in order to
increase the effectiveness of the advertisement, and urging them to purchase the product or to

use the service, which would increase its sales. Thus, advertising not only has an important
effect on a countrys economy, society, culture, and political system but also has as a
tremendous impact on international marketing.

CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION

So far, we have analyzed the prominent language features of advertisements at three levels:
the lexical, syntactic and ther hetorical one. Both, the qualitative and the quantitative
analysis, showed that the verbal mode is effective in delivering the intended message directly
to the audiences; and thus what really matters in a successful and influential advertisement is
a convincing content through the use of words that have enormous impact upon the readers.
However, this interpretation has a number of limitations, since there are probably more points
deserving to be analyzed and presented, regarding the lexical, syntactic and rhetorical
features of advertising language and the three meta functions: ideational, interpersonal and
textual; and due to the fact that the discussion ignores the semiotics of visual image, which
can also contribute to the meaning of the text because visual symbols are able to express what
verbal cannot.
Advertisement is necessary for both, advertisers and consumers; companies can increase their
products sales and eventually boost their market position through a well-written and a welldesigned advertisement, while consumers can get more information about the product or the
service theyre attracted to, and which can have a great effect on them as to purchase it. From
past to present, advertising went through many changes starting from the shouting of
announcements, to todays use of internet in marketing. Its appeal and impact also increased
under the influence of globalization and the development of the world through the centuries,
and hence peoples desires and beliefs changed; nowadays, most of the consumers seek a fake
image of humans figure and body perfection that advertisements provide, promote and
encourage them to imitate.
In contrary to most of the current beauty advertisements, Dove does neither show
professional models nor does portray images ofimpossible perfection, as stated in the
beginning of this research project. On the contrary, the message of the campaign could be
summarized with stay as beautiful as you already are. However, another hidden message is
transmitted to their audience which could be decoded into stay as beautiful as you already
are, only by using Dove products; or in other words, that Dove itself upholds the beauty
myths and expectations. Thus, it is proven that Dove exploits womens desire for such an
inclusive message, and that the appeal of the campaign works to create a deep brand loyalty.
Such hidden message is decoded through the analysis of various linguistic mechanisms of a
text, which demonstrates how specific lexicogrammatical features can be related to the world

view which motivates and is reflected in each text (Book4, p.124). Hence, the lexical and
grammatical choices, employed by admen, are of great importance in advertising language, as
their function is to convey the essential information about the advertised product, attract the
audience, influence them to purchase it and finally to develop-brand loyalty, by continuing to
repurchase the same product.
After all, as quoted by Jef I.Richards, Advertising practitioners are
interpreters. But unlike foreign language interpreters, adpeople must constantly learn new
languages. They must understand the language of each new product, and speak the language
of each new target audience.

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A Brief History of Advertising, Author: MediaKnowAll, Copyright 2009 by Karina
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