Everyone’s talking about the newest commercial for Dove soap called “Onslaught.” Have you seen it? Well, you need to because most everyone else has. In the first 32 hours after the video was posted in England, it received 100,000 hits on YouTube. (youtube.com/watch?v=JaH4y6ZjSfE)

    For the first 10 seconds, a sweet, little red-haired girl is looking into the camera, she’s maybe 7 or 8, and in the background, Beatle-ish-sounding lyrics grow louder, “Here it comes, here it comes, here it comes . . . ” And in the next 15 seconds, the video assaults you with fast, half-second images of beauty products, sexy lingerie models and women undergoing all forms of cosmetic surgery. The message at the end is the clincher. I won’t tell you what it says because I don’t want to ruin the impact for you.

    As a mother of two daughters, this campaign really hits home for me. I wish I could say that my daughters haven’t been influenced by advertising, television shows and pop culture, in general. But sadly, they have. Yesterday, my teenager was listening to her iPod and singing along to one of her favorite bands, “All Time Low,” (who I have never heard of!) and I hear her singing, “Put out or shut up!” We had a nice little chat in the car on the way to school over that one. She honestly had no clue what the lyrics meant, but because they were being sung by this band that she adores, she thought it was poetry. I think there needs to be some parental control on downloading music to iPods, too. But that’s another blog for another day.

    Anyway, I applaud Unilever, the makers of Dove soap, for once again, touching a raw nerve about the beauty industry, especially since they are part of the beauty industry. Very daring, very risky. And I think it will pay off handsomely for them. Not sure I’ll go out and buy Dove soap because I’ve always thought it smelled funny. But I do respect them for delivering this important message.