Nature or Nuture? Do I measure up?

Hard to miss Dove's latest evolution clip -- a build on its campaign for real beauty.

Dove is trying to send the message that natural beauty, no matter what you look like, is beautiful. The problem is that girls and women don't necessarily buy this. I am not sure we are ever going to change the way girls or women think about themselves. It is natural for girls and women to want to be pretty. It is a primal instinct. Even if we were going to eliminate media influences altogether it would still appear naturally in everyday life, in the schools, on the street.

Although Dove is doing a brilliant marketing and publicity job with this campaign, are they really hitting the mark with the intent to improve the self esteem of young girls today?

We all know that media images are manipulated. To invest heavily in communicating this message is simply underestimating the audience. Most social and peer pressures are much closer to home and certainly impossible to control or manage.

Feeling confident and good about oneself and having a strong sense of self esteem has less to do with outer beauty and more to do with the way we were raised and supported and our role models.

Although we all aspire to "you are beautiful just the way you are, honey..." that doesn't cut it for most.

As one blogger said... "then why didn't Dove put ugly fat women in their ads"? And, they still sell beauty products, don't they?