Know your mind, love your body . . . Celebrate yourself, others will follow . . . there are three billion women who don't look like supermodels and only eight who do' - these might sound like motivational slogans from a self-help book. In fact, they are the latest provocative campaign messages from The Body Shop, the international cosmetics company that produces natural products using natural processes.
Step into a Body Shop store and you will see a poster of Ruby, the happily voluptuous doll that is the central image of its self-esteem campaign.
The Body Shop said Ruby was part of the campaign to push the debate about the effect the beauty industry was having on women's health and well-being.
Any message that counters the more pernicious effects of the fashion industry - which has millions of women dieting around the world and has been blamed for contributing to the alarming incidence of eating disorders such as anorexia - has an admirable aim.
But before we get too excited, here is a question: when you buy a bottle of lotion, is it because of its moisturising effect or because you identify with a message that celebrates you as you are? The slogans, of course, have nothing to do with the way the product works, but are part of the brand-building process in which ethics becomes just another marketing tool.
The controversy kindled by the confrontation of the two sides in the row also helps raise brand awareness, which in turn may lead to more identification and higher sales.