A friend just sent me a link to this vid, another piece in the well-conceived and brilliantly delivered Dove campaign for real beauty. This one is aimed right at protecting the young ones.
I like this ad. I like the message. I like that it’s from a corporate endeavor and not YET-ANOTHER 501(c)(3), institution, initiative, government agency, or coalition to protect our girls. I like be-smart-do-good capitalism. And Dove has got it going on.
Now, through the lens of understanding generational lifecourses, heres’ my take: it’s the beginning of a new wave of ultra-protection of children, but in a way particularly suited to the newest generation: The Homeland Kids. FYI, The Homeland Generation is the last generation in the Millennial cycle and a generation associated by the Artist archetype with today’s Silent Gen (born 1925 – 1942). Unlike their “Civic” Millennial predecessors who have adult (and government and institutional) eyes and attention on them all the time, the “Artist” Homeland kids are protected by their conforming, being placid and developing nuanced sensitivities to the world around them. Survival of the tribe is the song of the Artist generation’s youth years, not “what’s most important for children” like their next-elder generation experienced in their youth.
So, in a deep, down layer that Dove probably doesn’t even know they are doing, by encouraging parents to raise their daughters to be resilient to “Madison Avenue” messages of being ultra-sexy, personally expressive in a loud way and beholden to pressures to be like the movie star glam goddesses, Dove is, in essence, telling this generation to “Shhh … don’t stick out. Don’t make waves. Be aware.” And it’s all good. Their core message is essentially good: avoid the onslaught. Don’t get caught in it. Be real.
I just find it utterly fascinating to apply the lens of generational variances and to watch as Society (with a capital “s,” that is) shapes — and is shaped by — an emerging generation.
