Branding "real" social change in Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty

This article critically examines Dove’s "Campaign for Real Beauty" (CFRB) as a cause branding strategy. It analyzes how the campaign constructs popular meanings of feminism, social change, and female beauty in global consumer culture. A semiotic analysis reveals a juxtaposition in its messaging, referencing feminist politics while dictating a beauty ideology. The author argues that this strategy positions Dove to usurp the feminist role of engendering social change for women, displacing influential mentoring from women to the brand, and encourages a postfeminist citizenship rooted in self-branding and neoliberal identity for empowerment.