The Ugly Betty series is becoming a renowned phenomenon, there's a Be Ugly ABC-Cosmo-Girls Inc. campaign which is, simplified, telling girls it's ok to be ugly. I find this somewhat disturbing, not only because the lead actress is in fact absolutely gorgeous (as on the photo), and made up to look ugly (instead of hiring a really out-of-the ordinary girl), but also because it all boils down to 'If you don't have the face and the body, no style and no fashion sense, you still have your smarts'. Brains are becoming a consolation prize, and the stereotype arises once more: ugly girls are smart. Pretty ones aren't.

Don't get me wrong, I love the show. At first I was going like - is this Devil wears Prada series? - and was waiting for the miraculous makeover, but as the episodes went further I saw there wasn't going to be one. There was Betty, doing her stuff, looking weird and wearing absolutely obsolete clothing. I mean, although those shirts of hers cost well over $100, there was a big effort put into making designer items look ugly as hell. (check out the fashion of Ugly Betty)

The whole thing makes me scream - unrealistic! - because there isn't a girl soul out there, with dirt cheap internet nowadays, which isn't aware that those combination of colors, styles and haircut can't pass even if you're 70.

The idea behind all this over-exaggerating is of course that ugly, unstylish and fashion-challenged people can have great jobs and careers too. The aforementioned campaign tries to teach us that ugly is the new beautiful, that beauty is really in the eye of the beholder. We knew that already, FYI. In my world there are chubby girls, stick-thin ones, big-nosed, large-bottomed, small-breasted, hair-disasters and all sorts of women, who care enough about themselves to wear suitable, fitting and flattering clothes, exercise, eat healthy and be good friends. In my world I appreciate a good style, fashion sense and haircut, no matter if it's for $5 or $500.

And I know that for a smart girl, self assured and pretty in her own way, there isn't anything nicer than dressing up, splashing on a day at a spa or doing an extra mile to help the body stay fit. I don't think that telling girls being ugly is the right way to go, I would much more prefer it if everyone would just stop obsessing about any body type and it's connotations to intelligence.

USA Today says:

"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."