Well wouldyalookitthat? Guess my social media is well enough curated that it took about a month, but finally it tells me that Dove have been up to their usual hijinks: this time with a 'One Beautiful Thought' campaign video.

In their latest equivalent of feminist Ryan Gosling yelling 'HAY GURL YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL NOW BUY MY PRODUCTS', they have actresses act out the most abusive personal thoughts that various women journalled about themselves, in front of said (weirdly, all conventionally attractive) women.

The message is: if you wouldn't say this to a woman-friend, then for the love o'Mike, be kinder to yourself. So far, so empowermentful.

And yet. And yet.

I find it somewhat hard to stomach that a corporate brand is effectively telling us 'Jeez, woman. All these negative thoughts you're having are just because you're thinking all wrong. Stop being so down on yourself! Your unhappiness is your fault!' while simultaneously contributing to a culture of body-shame and narrowly restrictive body aesthetic with its purpose and marketing.

In the last week I've heard of a friend's mother telling her that one of her dresses was bad because it 'made her look fat', another friend concerned about her seven year-old daughter's eating habits and several people expressing guilt over the amount of Easter chocolate they ate. That's a pretty typical week in my line of work.

Self-hate in this kind of toilet-world culture is rational. Women ain't daft. They KNOW what bodies and behaviour get rewarded and which get punished. Feeling less-than is not a strange thing to do. It's tragic, yes — but that doesn't mean anyone gets to give us it as another thing to add to our guilt list.

You particularly don't get to do that that if you're Dove. Encouraging feelings of worthlessness is directly in 'beauty' companies' interests. This is the company that introduced the concept of 'beautiful armpits' — which of course can only exist if you buy into the idea that you need to spread their pit-muck on your arm-crevices to stop them from being 'ugly'.

How freakin' DARE they?

Self-acceptance takes hard work. It's OK if sometimes you struggle.

I strongly recommend you read this wonderful piece by Bethany Rutter, in which she talks more about the challenge and how she works towards it.