Are you beautiful, or average? If asked to make a choice about how you see yourself what would you choose?
Dove found that a staggering 96% of women would not choose the word beautiful to describe how they look; building on their brilliant self-esteem campaigns Dove have released a thought provoking short film demonstrating how feeling beautiful is very much a personal choice, and encouraging women to ‘choose beautiful.’
Shot in five cities worldwide, women were invited to choose to walk through one door marked up ‘Average’ or another marked up ‘Beautiful’ – the resulting film shows the wavering choices women make, whether alone or supported by other women, many choosing the average door even after spending some time reflecting; it becomes apparent just how challenging a decision this is for many.
Why Choose Beautiful
The confidence that exudes from the women that choose beautiful is clear in the film, but when we choose to avoid beautiful and make the choice to see ourselves as average we see the conflict that this decision brings, this experiment really brings this inner conflict to life – Could I? Should I? Can I? – my reflections on the film suggested that for many women the decision to choose beautiful requires permission from someone else.
Mother and daughter pairing from London, Julie and Olivia who participated in the film, commented that “British women often lack confidence in their own beauty”. Olivia also described how she was “reluctant to choose the ‘Beautiful’ door”, as she was concerned about onlookers assuming she had an “exaggerated sense of self confidence.” Given that 96% stat, choosing to see ourselves as beautiful is a brave choice; and I would choose the beautiful door all the more now that I have a young daughter.
I Choose Beautiful
As I’ve grown older I have learned to love and accept myself, at almost 6 foot I no longer stoop or apologise for my height, but put my best foot forward instead because I feel passionately about passing this self-esteem onto J – too many years of my youth were wasted on feeling average, I now have a longer list of things I like about myself, my personality and the way I look than the list things I don’t like so much – I tell J she is beautiful daily in many different ways too.
I point out beautiful things to her, “look, your body is so strong” “your laugh is gorgeous” “when you wear bright colours you look like a sunny flower” and “I love that we both have shiny blue eyes” – and in return she squeezes my cheeks tight and strokes my hair roughly and says “you’re beautiful Mammy” even on the days when I’ve had less sleep than I can manage on, and I believe her!
If you’d choose average I would urge you to take another look, to think about your true inner beauty and reconsider – watch Dove Choose Beautiful and make your choice @DoveUK with #ChooseBeautiful.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, reflections on the film are my own
