Unilever’s Dove brand team has declared Feb. 29 Global Workshop Day – leveraging the extra day conferred by 2008 being a leap year to conduct Real Beauty educational workshops in schools and youth organizations.

The ambitious aim for the special day is to engage up to 10,000 young people in activities that help build a positive sense of self-esteem and put the beauty world into perspective. The Dove Global Workshop Day is dedicated to the continuation of the Dove Self-Esteem Fund’s overall mission to challenge stereotypical views of beauty and raise the self-esteem of five million young people, mostly girls, by 2010.

Dove employees from Unilever Canada, together with partner agencies and organizations, will conduct one-hour self-esteem building workshops with students ages 7-14 at interested schools in the GTA. The workshops will offer a ‘reality check’ on factors affecting their self-esteem by revealing the behind-the-scenes secrets of stylists, makeup artists, photographers and computer technicians who produce the images of perfection they see every day.

Complete information on how to get involved is available at www.dove.ca/facilitators.