Dove's latest Real Beauty video appears to be inspiring a higher level of parody.
Above Average Productions, an online comedy video network that's part of Lorne Michaels' Broadway Video family, which produces "Saturday Night Live," "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" and "Portlandia," is the latest to poke fun at the Unilever brand. Like the video it lampoons, the parody even tried to drum up some PR "pre-seeding" by Above Average.
The parody shows a mock psychological experiment not unlike Dove's recent "Patches" video from Ogilvy & Mather Brasil. Instead of fooling women into thinking they're wearing patches that make them feel more beautiful, the parody shows a man in an gorilla suit behind a fake mirror trying to convince women they're ugly. The women aren't fooled, but Dove and its psychologist are in denial.
The Dove voice-over concludes: "You fell for our weird psychology experiment, and it showed you you're not actually a hideous monster. So where's our Nobel Peace Prize or whatever?"
Above Average doesn't just skewer brands, however: It wants to work with them. The company says it's starting to "offer our own creative services for advertisers that are looking for humorous, highly-shareable video content."
The real Dove video, released in 65 countries simultaneously and backed by paid media, drew 25 million views its first week along with a lot of controversy.