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Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

Gil Zamora is an FBI-trained forensics artist with over 3,000 criminal sketches under his belt. Dove (through Unilever’s U.K. office) and Ogilvy Brazil hired him to interview and draw seven different women—two sketches of each. The first sketch was based on each woman’s personal description of herself.The second was based on a description provided by a stranger the woman had just met. Of course, the differences are vast. Watching these women come face to face with the version of themselves in their mind and the version everyone else sees is extraordinary. It’s one of the most original and touching experiments to come from the Campaign for Real Beauty in ages, because instead of making faux protests or annoying graphic designers with bullshit filters, they’re actually empowering individual women to appreciate their inherent beauty, and in turn, allowing us all to wonder if we’ve been judging ourselves too harshly. Like all of the best work, the commercial elements are barely there. Beyond the logo, Dove doesn’t even attempt to sell soap. Watch the documentary below, and mini-videos of selected women on the web site. Then enjoy the rousing comments section, where people are already attacking Dove for choosing too many skinny, white chicks.

Dove Sketch 2 FInaldove_sketch_1_final