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Looking for 'Real Beauty'

Average usually doesn't "sell more soap," as the saying goes. But at least one company set out to challenge that belief.

Two years ago, Dove skincare products launched its Campaign for Real Beauty, using real women of different ages, sizes, and ethnicities to sell Dove products. And it chose, of all days, Superbowl Sunday, with a huge, primarily male, audience, to debut its ads of women with imperfect bodies dressed in their underwear, selling firming lotion.

The ad campaign gave Dove what every company wants -- a lot of attention.

"We have received an overwhelmingly positive feedback," said Philippe Harousseau, marketing director for Dove. And he credits the Campaign for Real Beauty with boosting global sales between $60 million and $70 million in the first year of the campaign.

Etcoff views the company's profits as secondary to the courageous message sent to women across the country. She has done research into women's body image and found only 2 percent of women around the world felt comfortable describing themselves as beautiful when beauty was defined as physical attractiveness. Yet her research also found women wanted to embrace a wider definition of beauty.