Calling All Bridget Joneses: Men Go For Personality Not Looks

This is one for all you Singletons out there! Don't waste your time dieting and destroying your confidence by continually striving to conform to the 'ideal' image, its personality that counts!

According to a new Boots survey, 52% of men says they prefer a woman's personality to her looks. This is great news for Singletons - whilst we all like to look good and take pride in our appearance, with less pressure to conform, they'd be more room for confidence to grow from within. Learning to be happy and content with ourselves is the key to experiencing inner confidence, so don't concentrate on calorie counting, focus on you and you'll get your Mr D'Arcy.

One personality that exudes confidence and that grabs men's attention is Dawn French. The results from Boots' survey show that 69% of men and women believe that Dawn is more confident than Kate Moss (11%) which goes to prove that you don't need to be a supermodel to be confident. And if women think that confidence comes from looks alone, then they'd better think again!

Sue Tompkins Lifestyle Expert from Boots agrees.

"Women put themselves under unnecessary pressure by comparing themselves to the model looks of Geri Haliwell and Gwyneth Paltrow. Our personal strengths and qualities are far more important because they endure beyond first impressions or the initial passion of a relationship. If you want to look good do so because you value yourself and want to show the world that you feel great about who you are!"

With the growth of the celebrity phenomenon and continuous messages about dieting and striving for the supermodel look hitting the news stands every everyday, 1 in 3 women lack confidence in their appearance, indeed the appearance of magazines like the newly launched Celebrity Bodies don't exactly help.

"Its not surprising that women feel they ought to conform to these images, but there are other ways. First of all - stop giving yourself such a hard time because you are good enough already! Relax, remember to value who you are and what you have to say, then present yourself with confidence. You will find that people accept you without question," says Sue.

In a bid to show women all modern day Bridgets that looks alone aren't the only key to confidence, Boots is launching a series of Confidence Roadshows which will help women to learn to achieve inner confidence as well.

Kicking off in Boots Manchester store on 4th April, Sue Tompkins will join celeb hairdresser Andrew Collinge and his make-up artist wife, Liz to teach customers how to achieve both inner and outer confidence. Other roadshows will be taking place in Birmingham on 11 April and in London at High Street Kensington on 24 and 25th April between 10 and 4pm. Consultations are free..and there will be the chance to meet make-up artists to the stars, Ariane Poole as well as top hairdressers from John Frieda and Charles Worthington.

Technical details

This report presents the findings of a survey conducted by MORI on behalf of Boots . The questions were placed on MORI's Omnibus, and a nationally representative quota sample of 1,857 adults aged 15+ were interviewed throughout Great Britain by MORI/Field & Tab across 188 constituency-based sampling points. Interviews were carried out using CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing) face-to-face in respondents' homes between 15 and 21 March 2001. Data have been weighted to reflect the national population profile.