Dove deodorant
Contents
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Shots
Breakdown
i.
A woman is barely visible through what looks like silk. The silk is shimmering. She appears to be smiling, one of her arms is raised vertical and she is touching her exposed underarm with the hand of her other arm.
ii.
The silk lifts and we see the woman more clearly. She is smiling and is slowly rotating around from right to left, front to back until her face is obscured by her back.
iii.
We cut to another scene, the silk is once again obscuring the woman. We see her reach out. She is no longer smiling. The opaqueness decreases but at no point does the silk lift.
iv.
We cut to another scene, this time the camera is on the womans back. She continues to be obscured by the silk, still shimmering. She appears to be rotating slowly as if standing on a rotating pedestal.
v.
There is a transition to the next scene. The silk has disappeared. The womans back is in the shade. One of her arms is again raised up in the air. She is holding a razor with the hand attached to the other arm. The razor is being applied to what appears to be a shaven underarm. She starts at the top of her underarm and slides the razor down. The razor casts a shadow.
vi.
We cut to another scene, in the background is what appears to be silk. The silk is shimmering. A womans hand is holding a razor and dragging it from right to left accross the material in the background. As she drags it, a tear or fissure appears in the material. The tear is frayed at the edges. Judging by the movement of the frayed strands there appears to be some kind of movement of air from right to left. By the time the razor has reached the far left of the scene, a hole is apparent.
vii.
We cut and zoom in on the hole. The frayed strands are now very clear. A white liquid appears to be poured slowly. It starts at the top and falls down. In time with the liquid moving towards the hole, the hole is gradually faded out of the shot. Until it has disappeared.
viii.
The hole and the silk have become totally faded out and what has taken their place appears to be a white liquid of the same kind as the liquid that is being poured. The liquid continues to be poured, and drops into the other liquid creating a splash.
ix.
We cut back to the woman. Again her arm is raised vertical, but instead of the razor she is now holding with her fingertips a container of roll-on deodorant with the top off. The ‘Dove’ brand is visible on the face of the container. She is in the process of applying it to her skin. She starts from the bottom of her underarm and works her way up. As the deodorant passes her skin, it starts to glow. The whole set appears to be glowing. She is also very slowly rotating.
x.
We cut to the front of the woman, her face is obscured by silk but the same arm is raised vertical. The deodorant has gone and she is holding her other arm obscuring her breasts and touching her exposed underarm with her hand. The silk is slowly lifted showing her face. She continues to touch her underarm. Lightly stroking it.
xi.
We cut to another scene. The ground is white and half covered with silk and a deodorant container to the centre-right of the shot. Behind the deodorant container is a razor. The container is branded ‘Dove original’ in the familiar ‘Dove’ branding. The silk is moving from left to right, brushing up against the deodorant.
xii.
The silk continues to move, and the words ‘Dove Deodorant.’ appear to the left of the container. In the top left hand corner of the words we see the ‘Dove’ logo.
xiii.
The words ‘Dove Deodorant.’ are faded out and replaced by the words ‘effective protection.’ and ‘beautiful result.’ on top of each other. The ‘Dove’ logo remains. The silk shimmers
Audio
Start (s) Speech Finish (s)----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------07.7 Because underarm skin is so delicate... 09.611.1 Everytime you shave, it can cause damage... 13.414.6 Dove is the only deodorant with one quarter of moisturising cream... 17.317.9 That helps skin to recover from shaving... 19.4 20.0 Leaving underarms soft and smooth... 21.922.6 Dove deodorant... 23.6
Text
Dove deodorant.Effective protection.Beautiful result.
Storyline
A woman is shown naked with silk floating around her, and to demonstrate the damage shaving does on your under arms a razor is drawn across some silk cutting it. So Dove is introduced as a soothing under arm deodorant to combat the damage caused.
Analysis
- Underarm skin is delicate
- Women shave their underarms
- When they shave, it causes damage
- Dove is a deodorant with moisturising cream
- Skin needs to recover from shaving
- Deodorant with moisturising cream helps skin to recover from the damage of shaving
- Dove deodorant comes from somewhere
- Dove deodorant leaves underarms soft
- Dove deodorant leaves underarms smooth
- Soft and smooth are desirable characteristics for underarms
- Dove deodorant is an effective protection against something
- Dove deodorant gives a beautiful result to something
- Dove turns the underarm into a beautiful thing worthy of care
Leaving underarms soft and smooth
- Deictic expression (pointing with words), think of the direction in terms of the speaker “leaves goes away from the speaker” .
- Motion, base conceptual domain.
Metaphor
- Skin is like silk – a luxurious, delicatem, expensive material, exclusive, every woman has skin, every woman has this exclusive, delicate substance.
- The skin darkens when shaving, and glows when Dove deodorant is applied.
- The razor creates a fissure in the silk (skin), which the moisturiser in Dove then smooths over
- The razor is both a beautifier (in removing hair from the skin) and a cause of destruction (causing the fissure).
Scene order
Contrasting frames…
- Woman + Razor (The razor is moved over the womans [already shaven) skin)
- Silk + Razor (The razor is moved over some silk, causing damage)
- Dove [moisturiser] + Silk (The damage in the silk is replaced/repaired by Dove [moisturiser])
- Dove + Woman (The deodorant is moved over the skin, presumably the damage to the skin is repaired)
The conceptual frames ‘skin’ and ‘silk’ are activated when the razor is moved over the silk. The properties of silk are mapped onto skin, because skin is already in our experience as a primary concept – its part of our body whereas silk is not.
This is the synthetic frame that theyre trying to create. Your belief is that skin should feel like silk. Their proposition is that skin should feel like silk.
The advert is not interactive so they have no opportunity to question whats being said. You have to take whats being said as temporarily true in order that you can infer whats coded in the text.
Reality
- Dove is the product of Unilever, a company formed from a merger of a soapmaker and a margarine producer, see Unilever.
- A euphoria, incidentally, which must not make us forget that there is one plane on which Persil and Omo are one and the same: the plane of the Anglo-Dutch [multinational corporation] Unilever. – Roland Barthes