underachiever and proud of it.

Slate.com is writing about dove's new ad campaign (with the best article title possible). So is salon, and now so am I.
In case you're not in America, it's just "regular" women in white cotten panties and bra's with really nice skin. Concerning soap and skin products, I gotta say, more ads should look like this, and look this good. I think they're damned good ads, especially since they've attracted so much attention.
I gotta go all pat on the coverage though. Everyone wants to hail this advertising scheme as really great for women and "ohh self-esteem" and blah blah blah. But is it really healthy for society to dole out so much self-esteem boosting to the underachievers? Some of the women in the ads really do have average, healthy bodies, but more than a couple are well into the unhealthy territory (as are some of the skinniest models to be certain).
I think it's a good thing for a people to have media images to which they can aspire, but these aren't about aspiration, they're about contentment. Why laud those who don't achieve what is both the social standard, and the mark of good health?
I'm a skinny kid of two fat-ish parents, and I know it's hard to lose weight, but I see being overweight as a indicator of something amiss in one's lifestyle. It can be as simple as diet, but often isn't. It often has to do with stress management, free time and snowballing lethargy.

Why encorage unhealthy bodies on the chubby end of the spectrum when the unhealthy skinny bodies are so decried by the media (the talking media, not the visual media)?

Here's where I get really nasty... This is a further symptom of America losing it's "hunger". As the rest of the world grows more and more competitive, and striving for better lives, America literally and figuratively grows fat and complacent. These dove ads, although sweet in their own way are just more American decadence.