Bridget's the best

She eats too much, drinks too much, smokes too much and cannot keep a man. But Bridget Jones is British women's favourite role model. In a blow to Hollywood notions of beauty, Bridget, as played by Renee Zellweger, tops a new poll to find British women's "healthiest body role model", beating Beyonce, Britney Spears and Cameron Diaz.

Men, more predictably, put Catherine Zeta-Jones at the top of their list. But both sexes preferred Zellweger as Bridget to her subsequent screen role as Roxie Hart in Chicago, for which she shed all the weight she had gained to play Bridget. Posh Spice was in bottom place in both charts as their unhealthiest role model.

A poll of more than 2,300 British men and women also found that three-quarters of women wanted to see more "realistic" women in beauty advertising.

Two out of every three women felt the models in most beauty campaigns lowered their self-esteem, while 39 per cent said such adverts actually made them feel bad about their own bodies.

The survey was carried out for cosmetics company Dove, which today launches a £3 million campaign featuring "real women" with no modelling experience.

Virtually all those questioned (98 per cent of women and 94 per cent of men) felt the models in most advertising presented an "unrealistic" representation of women. An overwhelming 83 per cent of women also agreed with the statement: "Women in beauty adverts don't usually use the products they are promoting."

Psychologist Dr Linda Papadopolous, an expert in women's body attitudes, said: "When the girl in the mirror doesn't look like the girl in the magazine or on the TV, it's not surprising that women's self-esteem can be affected."