The latest iteration of Dove’s “Real Beauty” campaign struck a nerve and then some this week. The ad, from Ogilvy Brazil, literally illustrated the gulf between self-perception and objective reality when it comes to a woman’s own appearance, and it’s been viewed more than 7 million times on YouTube.
And now, the inevitable parody. New Feelings Time comedy has acted fast and produced a spot-on version of “Real Beauty Sketches” that shows the differences between male and female self-perception.
It’s funny but, if you wanted to get earnest, you could perhaps see these two videos as actual indicators of an larger issue for women. Forget about looks for a moment–the point, that men aren’t afraid to overestimate themselves, is something that no less a thinker than Clay Shirky has written about.
His concern–that his male students were more likely to put themselves forward for jobs and other opportunities, whether they were qualified or not (and of course, would therefore have a better chance of capitalizing on said opportunities than someone who ventured nothing because she thought she wasn’t qualified.).
As Shirky wrote:
“This worry isn’t about psychology; I’m not concerned that women don’t engage in enough building of self-confidence or self-esteem. I’m worried about something much simpler: Not enough women have what it takes to behave like arrogant, self-aggrandizing jerks.”