The second leg of Dove’s #StopTheBeautyTest campaign has won applause for championing body positivity. However, every time a brand speaks up on an issue, it is censured for hypocrisy. It’s no different this time. Christina Moniz asks industry experts how brands can take up critical issues without sounding preachy.
‘The cause must come from the product itself’
Amit Wadhwa, CEO, Dentsu Creative India
To begin with, the objective of brand campaigns should be to gain more attention and spark conversations. So, I don’t think it should be discouraged. Going viral is an outcome, thus, it cannot be a starting point. But yes, creating conversations and people sharing the content for positive reasons certainly is; and if a brand guns for this, I don’t see why we should be defensive about it. Now, the challenge is to address an issue without being preachy or to put it another way, opportunistic. I am a strong believer that the cause or reason must come from the product itself because if it does not, it will appear even more contrived. Beyond that, you must be consistent in addressing or raising these concerns since this is how credibility is built.
Finally, you must execute it with the same honesty and finesse as that definitely makes a big difference. In a nutshell, I believe that picking up issues and raising them through brands is a great idea as long as we do it right and consistently.
‘Consumers need to buy into the brand’s cause’
Naresh Gupta, Co-founder & managing partner, Bang In The Middle
Owning a cause and building a brand narrative around it is not easy for any brand. The two are actually poles apart with different communication challenges. Brands do not find it easy to make the two work in tandem. At times the cause itself may become something they can’t work with.
Take this new Dove campaign, which has issues across multiple levels. At the corporate level, there’s blatant dishonesty. The same Unilever makes profit from selling the very same insecurity that it wants Dove to overcome. At the brand level, the cause itself seems to be made up. The creative device of girls in uniform and apparent marks for beauty is a hyperbole. I’m not sure hyperbole works in a scenario like this. As a signatory to the European Standards for Advertising where Unilever has committed to be responsible towards portraying children in advertising, it seems to have broken the code.
When a brand wants to ride a cause, the consumers have to buy into the cause and the narrative. This campaign raises more questions about the brand than it answers about the cause.
‘Go beyond claims and operate from proof’
Snehasis Bose, Chief strategy officer, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi
The point to ponder is the reason for the brand’s messaging. Will the brand’s average buyer ever see the status quo- or behaviour-challenging work? Is it relevant to the audience it sells to? Or is it only for the marketing and communication fraternity? To make the brand’s managing team and/or agency feel part of a more ‘evolved’ narrative?
Once the motivation is clear, the brand needs to remind itself that with a few clicks, the rest of the world can figure out smokescreens and deflections. Opening cupboards and poking through skeletons can be done today by almost anyone with an internet connection.
The simple and time-tested way for brands to navigate this very thin ice is to walk the talk.
Go beyond claims and operate from proof. And get the higher ground to stand on when and if the noise
turns nasty.