Dove Pro-Age
Eva Glasgow 

revised February 12

Dove Pro-Age

By Eva Glasgow

This advertisement for Dove Pro-Age skin and hair products is one of a series in the company’s new marketing approach to appeal to the aging female demographic of America’s population, a group that is often neglected by both media and marketing. This particular ad appears on the back cover of TIME magazine, a news publication that reaches age groups across the spectrum, male and female. Dove not only wants to reach its target audience, but the company also intends to make a statement about the popular conception of beauty by placing this ad on the back cover, a highly visible, prominent ad space, as opposed to its being nestled within the pages of the magazine. This seemingly simple ad employs the three rhetorical concepts of ethos, logos, and pathos in both the text and the image.

Immediately, the visual image of a nude woman catches our attention. However, this woman is not the typical model we would expect to see exposing her body. The sexual connotations of her nudity are tempered by our realization that she is an older woman. 

Though her skin is wrinkled around her smiling eyes and her body is rounded softly, her skin tone is even and her hair has not a hint of gray; the neutral beige backdrop emphasizes the golden glow of her skin. While she defies our expectations of what a model usually looks like, she is nonetheless meant to look pleasant. An ethical appeal is at work in her projected character. She is not a model but an ordinary woman. She is like you and me, or perhaps someone we know and care for. The jewelry she wears implies that she is a member of the middle class; the large diamond wedding ring displayed on her out-turned left hand states boldly that she is someone’s wife and, likely, someone’s mother. All of these signs invite our identification with the woman. Inviting us to smile with her, the woman’s smile (a pathetic appeal) is aimed directly at us and appears to declare pride and self-confidence in her body. The ethos of the ad depends on our ability to relate to the image. Furthermore, her happy, confident persona appeals to our sense of trust in the product she represents. This woman provides visual testimony to the beneficial effects of using Dove Pro-Age products.

The logos in this ad appears within the text that runs across the woman’s chest: “too old to be in an anti-aging ad.” The text serves to underscore our initial reaction to the visual image—why is she in this ad? — but the text continues at the bottom of the page. We continue to read, “but this isn’t anti-age. this is pro-age.” This wordplay is an example of euphemism; the rhetoricians behind Dove Pro-Age redefine the term “anti-age,” which has a negative connotation (just think, the War on Age!) to a positive “pro” stance towards the aging process, an acceptance of the inevitable. We then read the next line, “the perfect time to trust your skin and hair to dove care.” This sentence begins with ellipsis because the subject of the sentence is omitted. We must ask, when is the perfect time? The missing subject that we must supply is the word now. This line is also an example of diatyposis, as it explicitly recommends that we should trust our bodies’ constantly shedding epidermis and tresses to Dove products. The final line reiterates the ad’s key message, the proverb “beauty has no age limit.” To the right of the text is a display of the various Dove Pro-Age products, all in the distinct shade of red that unites the shade of the woman’s lipstick, the highlighted type of the words “pro-age,” and the products’ packaging. The last words on the page, “dove pro-age,” are placed beneath the image of the products to serve the purpose of uniting the brand with the concept.


second revision, submitted by Deanne McDowell on February 12 (but won't properly convert to html)

A. DeAnne McDowell

English 5730

Dr. Nordquist

February 12, 2008

Ad Analysis: Response to Dove Pro-Age

     This ad uses a number of rhetorical devices to both redefine the term of “age” by adding the prefix “pro” to “age”.  In essence the ad promotes embracing the aging process on a positive note instead of fighting the inevitable.  The ad expects its target audience of aging women (who would feel mortified by baring their bodies as beautiful models do in most ads) to want to identify with the woman in this ad

     The visual metaphor introduces the antithesis of the ad.  It pictures an elderly, normal woman, posing naked, smiling and seemingly comfortable in her skin.  Its intention is to change the connotation of the word “age” from trepidation or anxiety to a more favorable reception by us.  It compels us to want to experience what this woman is feeling.  The ad employs ethopoeia by making us want to identify with woman’s apparent enjoyment with her skin and hair.  Identifying with her appeals to our sense of pathos, since aging is inevitable, and much more preferable than the other option, why not accept the fact and enjoy it? 

     This ad uses diatyposis by suggesting that if we use their Pro-Age products our skin and hair will be youthful looking and feeling.  The enthymeme employed her is if we use these products, our skin and hair will be younger looking, therefore we too will be satisfied and confident enough in our bodies to pose nude if asked.