Courage is Beautiful
The beginning — Kind of blurry on my mind.
It might feel like forever ago, but Coronavirus’s first appearance and hardest stages were just a short time ago. As a new student, and in consequence, new at the city, I remember practically running away from New York City when noticing things were getting out of control. Given that Colombia closed its borders early on this stage, and are still yet to open international flights, I found myself having mixed feelings about being away from my family during these times. Of course, I was sad about not being able to be with them but at the same time relieved that in Colombia, the virus was just starting to hit, and not being there was the safest option for my parents.
The lockdown — Still blurry plus a feeling it flashed by.
I don’t know about you, but for me, lockdown felt like a dream. Large amounts of time passed by and I didn’t even notice when. A feeling of uncertainty practically consumed me, and a bittersweet emotion overwhelmed me by not knowing what would happen with the experience I had been planning for a long time, my Masters degree at NYU. However, thinking about myself might have felt selfish for a moment. I realized I was thinking about superficial stuff when there were people still working and exposing their lives just to keep the rest of us safe. Without undermining many amazing jobs and essential workers who kept on going during these hard times, I want to address: the healthcare workers.
Good storytelling during COVID — 19
Okay, yes we knew healthcare workers were exposing their lives to Coronavirus. We worried about their health and their family’s, and our hearts ached just thinking about how cases were increasing and how they might have felt not being able to do much for sick people despite their hard work. But, did we ever see how this suffering really looked like? In my case, I hadn’t until I saw Dove’s “Courage is Beautiful” campaign, and I was immediately engaged by this eye-opening reality. There they were, images that meant more than a thousand words that reflected the pain, suffering, hard work, and love for their people on a short 30-second video (Cleverly this long, to include a countdown of the 20 seconds we must wash our hands to prevent the spread of the virus). I felt sad but at the same time the luckiest and proudest when I saw how they looked after extra hours of work, how their masks marked their faces as proof of the hustle, and how they kept going because the world depended on them. However, the way I connected with this ad wouldn’t have been possible if the brand, Dove, would have tried to push me their product. In this case in particular, they didn’t care if we bought their soap or goods. They made reference none of that mattered given the circumstances, they just cared about the fact that we cared; correctly approaching their customers resulting in earned media communicated on Glamour, Insider, AdAge, Today, and many more.
Given Dove’s reputation on many ads trying to cope with real-life issues such as “Real beauty” despite our size, the color of the skin, interests, or physique in general, this Coronavirus ad felt organic. In my opinion, is a brand that knows how to get into their customer’s hearts by telling a story and addressing a situation and not by pushing their products to them. For me, they showed that it was, and still is, a time to stand together towards one goal. So, might as well say that Dove, with it’s “Courage is Beautiful” campaign, on an afternoon during lockdown, definitely got me.
