Check out that girl's armpits

So I get a lot of emails and while most of them end up in the trash, I got one from Dove today that I opened. I have mixed feelings about this company. While I really love that they have used non-tradition models for their add campaigns, I'm not wild about their camaign to help ladies have more beautiful armpits. Because I was really worried that my arm pits weren't attractive enough. So when I read the following from my Dove email:

"Around the world, 72% of girls feel tremendous pressure to be beautiful, according to new research conducted by Dove^®. And when girls feel bad about their looks, the majority will avoid everyday activities like giving their opinion or even going to school."

It makes me kind of want to scream. First of all I would bet that that percentage is higher and second of all, maybe the feel this way because of your marketing strategies!

“If we don't continue to invent products that improve consumers' lives, we'll have trouble growing our business,” says Kevin Hochman, a marketing director for Procter & Gamble Co.'s female beauty brands, told the Wall Street Journal. (from the Globe and Mail article)

It seems to me (and a lot of people) that while they are inventing products they are also inventing problems. And it seems like this company is taking 3 steps back for every step forward they take. I love the idea behind the Real Beauty campaign and wish we saw more diverse and non-airbrushed models out there. I love that as a company, Dove seems to be doing work to promote self estem. But with the other hand they remind you that parts of your body need to be felt bad about. 

All and all, I think I'll stick with Toms of Maine.