Bold Statement in Dove Self-Esteem Super Bowl Ad Lacks Follow-through

In a world where good looks seem to matter the most, Dove's Super Bowl commercial for real beauty could be a beacon of light in a long, dark tunnel.

The ad starts quietly, subtlety, Cindy Lauper's "True Colors" coupled with the faces and bodies of little girls who wouldn't fit into the high standards of saleable gorgeousness. The music gets louder and heartbreaking truths begin to reveal themselves and flicker in between face shots of curly haired girls, red haired girls and girls wearing glasses with imperfect teeth. These girls are worried that they are ugly or not good enough because they might be fat or have dark hair and freckles instead of blond hair and no freckles. They have negative attitudes about their images and Dove want you to help them change that, "Because every girl deserves to feel good about herself and see how beautiful she really is." By the end of the commercial, the girls have gone from frowning to smiling, laughing and dancing. They are showing their "true colors." The transformation is complete and because of Dove's campaign for "real beauty," these little girls will grow-up thinking and believing they are attractive just they way they are.

Great idea, but is this for real? We heard a lot about this campaign when it first aired but not much in the following months. In fact, they ended the year with hair product commercials. Was it overshadowed by Spain's refusal to let anorexic women model? Or was it scrapped because the accepted perception is that" ugly" or even "cute" doesn't sell covers? Post Spain's ban on skinny models and Ugly Betty fame, Dove has a real chance to change the attitudes of more than a few people. Finally, women with curves, freckles, brown hair and voluptuous bottoms have a chance to reign supreme as the new standard of beauty. I hope to see a more aggressive, broader campaign from Dove during this year's Super Bowl that capitalizes on societies new willingness to see beauty for what it really is and not the airbrushed, starving model version we've all been conditioned to believe is the only definition of beautiful.