The Dove Campaign for Real Beauty Positioning your brand behind a very important social issue (due to the unrealistic beauty standards advertised in the beauty industry) may have had a strong effect on its target market, however it has many flaws and may have alienated many people in its progress. It may seem like the idea was a successful addition to the Dove brand, but the hype around the advertising may not translate into branding and product purchases. Applying a single identity to all of a brand's products is beneficial, however if the identity is inconsistent with the products sold or the company it is associated with it can detract from the brand (Deighton 2007). Creating a brand identity The brand must be able to capture consumers' attention and create an emotional attachment, however it must be consistent to be successful in the long term. POSITIVE ASPECTS Differentiate yourself from the competition and create an emotional attachment to the brand: Dove's purpose is to defend a point of view has helped build an identity for the brand and differentiate it from major competitors (Deighton 2007). The personal care market is a very saturated market characterized by strong competition. Dove has chosen a very different marketing technique than its competitors, which helps differentiate it from the likes of Nivea and Olay (Millard 2009). The Real Beauty campaign's attempts to change the way society viewed beauty made it unique, as well as manifesting emotions in women. The Real Beauty Sketches, which were the finishing touch of the campaign, played on women's insecurities and, although risky, transferred this feeling positively to the brand. The message supported by the campaign, “… middle of paper… is not an anti-age ad, it's pro-age.” This creates further contradiction since Dove is promoting their anti-aging products through these advertisements and if their goal is true beauty, women should not need to purchase anti-aging products. This detracts from the authenticity of the brand which claims that every woman is beautiful, regardless of her size or age. These paradoxes and double standards can create cognitive dissonance among consumers (Millard 2009). While some women may embrace Dove's goal of changing perceptions of beauty, many women may feel that their insecurities are being exploited and manipulated by the brand (Millard 2009). The true beauty message can intensify brand sentiment among many consumers, but the loss of aspirational value and inconsistency of the brand message can detract from the overall brand image and damage it in the long term..