“Oscar-winning hair can be yours! Want hair like Paris Hilton, Nicole Kidman or Posh Spice? It’s easier than you think with the right products and a bit of practice.”

So sure, they’re part of the problem. Dove is a pretty innocuous brand–soap is a benign and useful product. But theoretically, this ad cuts into their sales for Slim-Fast, another Unilever brand. Interesting stuff.

Impact on sales aside for a moment, is it having the desired impact on the audience? There’s a great insight from one of their forum members which suggests it may not have quite hit the mark…

“I’m older. I’ve also become jaded, so it’s easy for me to see through the beauty industry’s constant onslaught. However, it is next to impossible for me to share my accumulated knowledge of this with my daughter. Yes, I can talk about it and she may agree with it all in principal, but the main influence on her behaviour and view of the world is now her friends. So knowing the truth may still not help her control her actions. Girls, when they are young and still unformed don’t always have the strength to show confidence in their beliefs.”