That Dove wants you to think of it as the authority on beauty so it can sell you stuff makes sense, there's nothing underhanded about it and hardly worth the exposition. The question is, why do they think this will work? What do they know about us that makes them think we want an authority on beauty-- especially in an age where we loudly proclaim that we don't want an authority on beauty, we don't like authorities of any kind, we resist and resent being told what's beautiful (or good or moral or worthwhile) and what's not?
You may feel your brain start trying to piece this together, but you should stop, there's a twist: where did you see this ad? It wasn't during an episode of The Mentalist on the assumption that you're a 55 year old woman whose husband is "working late." In fact... it's not even playing anywhere. You didn't stumble on it, you were sent to it, it was sent to you-- it was selected for you to see. How did they know? Because if you're watching it, it's for you.
Here you have an ad that was released into the Matrix, it is not selling a product but its own authority, and it is not targeting a physical demo, age/race/class, it is targeting something else that operates not on demography but virality. Are you susceptible? So while you are sure you most certainly don't want an authority on beauty, the system decided that you, in fact, do very much want an authority on beauty. The question is, which of you is the rube?
