The famous Dove campaign for real beauty has crossed the gender divide.

As women around the world recognized their dimpled bums and curvy figures on billboards and bus shelters, now men will be able to catch a glimpse of their own bounty of imperfections – a billowy beer belly perhaps, or concave chest and spindly legs.

Called Dove Men+Care, the product line that includes body and face washes and moisturizers, hits stores next week. But its advertising campaign – one that's anticipated to celebrate the sheer variety of male body types – will be launched during the Super Bowl game on Feb. 7.

"Dove, the brand that sparked a global conversation about real beauty, is now starting a conversation with men," reads the invitation to the Feb. 3 launch event at Toronto's Hockey Hall of Fame.

Sharon MacLeod, marketing director for Unilever Canada, the company that manufactures Dove, hopes the new product line will spark the same conversation about men and body image that the original women's campaign ignited.

According to Unilever research, 80 per cent of men in Canada believe they are falsely portrayed in the media – that the washboard abs, bulging pecs and ripped biceps so often featured in television and print ads do not reflect their pale, doughy reality. This imagery makes men feel stereotyped, the research concludes.

As well, according to the Unilever survey, men reject advertising that portrays the ideal man as rich, implausibly handsome and aggressively ambitious – irresistible ladies' men driving luxurious sports cars. Apparently real men are more inclined to value their personality and sense of humour over money and possessions.

Also according to research, two-thirds of Canadian men are comfortable using women's personal care products but they aren't so comfortable admitting it. Only 24 per cent 'fess up.

Unilever has even solicited the support of Canadian gender expert Michael Kaufman, who is sensitive to the plight of men who find it difficult to live up to hyper masculine expectations.

Reported AdAge magazine, "The brand's 2006 Super Bowl appearance was for a poignant 60-second spot from the brand's critically acclaimed `Campaign for Real Beauty' that portrayed the insecurities women have with their looks and urged people to support the brand's self-esteem efforts."

Media watchers speculate the company will pursue a similar tact aimed at breaking down stereotypes about male beauty.

We should have seen it coming.

Five years ago, a group of ad executives from the Ogilvy agency in Dusseldorf, Germany, manned-up and stripped down to their skivvies to reveal their support for the female "real beauty" project. The photo was taken long before the men's line was conceived.

And YouTube features a video presentation of a spookily similar product line called Dove 5X5 that, like the real advertising campaign, explores the breadth of male beauty. MacLeod has seen the slick, professional-looking video and declares it has nothing to do with the expected Dove for men launch.

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"I love it," she says. "It's fantastic. The conversation has already begun."