The fight for female self-esteem gets pretty ugly

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Ugly is the new beautiful.

That's the message behind a new public service campaign, "Be Ugly '07," being announced today by ABC off its fall hit comedy Ugly Betty.

The purpose -- aside from drumming up new viewers -- is to promote a positive message for young women: "Be real, be smart, be passionate, be true to yourself and be ugly."

Main character Betty Suarez (played by America Ferrera) is not movie-star pretty, but she's smart and capable and has a good heart. And more than 13 million viewers a week love her for it.

"The irony is that this girl is perceived this way," says Silvio Horta, Betty's executive producer. "The second you get to know her, she's beautiful."

The campaign is the latest entry in a backlash to the images of rail-thin models that bombard young women daily.

Dove's talked-about Campaign for Real Beauty has become a popular global ad effort based on debunking conventional beauty stereotypes. Alex Kuczynski's best seller Beauty Junkies examines the obsession with plastic surgery. In interviews, she has talked about how "stupid" it was for her to wear acrylic nails and spend money on Botox and painful liposuction.

And ABC quietly pulled Extreme Makeover, its once popular plastic-surgery-makeover show, after one episode last month (four were scheduled).

Redefining beauty "is in the cultural zeitgeist," says ABC Entertainment marketing executive Michael Benson. "Be Ugly 07," launching Dec. 30, will encompass appearances, a website (BeUgly07.com) and events. Highlights:

*Singer/songwriter Jason Mraz has composed an original song, The Beauty in Ugly, which can be heard at BeUgly07.com Dec. 30.

*Hundreds of Betty look-alikes will be in Times Square and Walt Disney World in Orlando on New Year's Eve handing out Ugly Betty masks. On Jan. 1, look-alikes will distribute masks at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Calif.

*On Jan. 8, Ferrera, at a Cosmo Girl event (she's on the February cover, out Jan. 2) in New York, will unveil a T-shirt to raise money for Girls Inc., a non-profit group that promotes educational programs to help young women be strong and smart.

Girls Inc. president Joyce Roche says the campaign "allows us to counter the messages girls get that they've got to be perfect, be a certain size, look a certain way."

But is encouraging them to be ugly the way to reach them? "We hope that people go beyond the headline of ugly," Roche says. "I wish there would have been another way of saying it, but at least it will get the dialogue going."

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