The photo shoot involved five Betty Suarez “look-a-likes”, and the video shows their transformations into Betty (time-shortened, of course).

The collector’s bottle was designed by Ugly Betty costume designer Patricia Field, and even comes with its own accessory collection so you can customize the bottle and put your own unique twist onto it.

Here is a close-up Twitpic of one of the bottles.

I’m having the hardest darned time finding news on Ugly Betty’s UK ratings this year, outside this article about the season 3 premier (down from last year but still pretty good, if my math is right).

As for this event, I guess I’m just too used to America Ferrera.  The look-a-likes all have a slighter body type, and are taller than what I’m used to.  Nevertheless, it’s still cool to see a publicity event, any publicity event, surrounding Ugly Betty.

In fact, I’m REALLY hoping Diet Coke runs the same promotion in the US for the beginning of Ugly Betty season four  I want to get my hands on one of those bottles!

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These have got to be some of the cutest little spots I’ve ever seen.

They are produced by London agency Mother, and they feature a marionette style puppet called Eleanor who is “a stylish, sassy, sophisticated puppet who pulls her own strings.”

The idents borrow from Ugly Betty’s sense of style, focusing on fashion and how it can help one express individuality.

Eleanor is showcased “taking control of her own puppet strings,” enabling her to turn her back on what society dictates and channel her signature style in her own unique way.

(Kind of like Betty, although many American fans do not care for the “fashionable, but non-coordinated” style she has shown in season 3)

In these spots, Eleanor refashions a dress using a blow torch, and burns a hole in a hat, making it a scarf.

Diet Coke also has branding on Channel 4’s Ugly Betty website.  I’m just dying to see how they reconcile this with the whole Cherry 7-up scene in episode 3.22, In The Stars. 

Now, if an American ad agency can just figure out a way to get Heinrich into advertising for ABC’s Ugly Betty broadcast….

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Unlike the “Bettys”, the leading males of the show around the world are all handsome.  I’ll leave it to those of you who are experts at rating male attractiveness to pick your favorites.

I think Eric Mabius stacks up pretty well, but what do I know?

From time to time, I’ll see La Fea Más Bella on Telemundo and watch for a while.  Granted, i don’t understand the language, but even with that handicap, I can still tell that Jaime Camil plays Armando much more “seriously” than Eric Mabius plays Daniel.  However, that’s to be expected because of the telenovela nature of La Fea.

By the way, this song seems to be a modern equivalent of Donna Summer’s I Feel Love.

I wonder: do any of you enjoy comparing the various versions of the show around the world as much as I do?

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It starts with Betty’s suitors (in almost every version but the American one, I understand, the lead male and Betty end up together), but I don’t want to concentrate on them, because later this week I’m posting a video that focuses on all of Betty’s beaus.  This one is really all about Betty herself.

I find it interesting that in almost every culture, the way to “ugly up” a beautiful woman is to put glasses and braces on her.  Which of course should traumatize every 14-year-old girl the world over.  Bushy eyebrows are optional, probably depending upon the costume budget of the production.

I think the “prettiest” Betty (by my American standards) is the Betty from The Netherlands on the show Lotte, Nyncke Beekhuyzen.  The prettiest out of costume is, IMHO, America Ferrera, but I’ll admit I’m biased.

After the jump, I’ll put the caption of the video, which lists every country’s show, in order of appearance on this video.

In Order of Appearance
Columbia
-Yo soy Betty, la fea
-Ana Maria Orozco
- Jorge Enrique Abello
India
- Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin
- Mona Singh
- Apurva Agnihotri
Turkey
- Sensiz Olmuyor
- Özlem Conker
- Emre Altuğ
Germany
- Verliebt in Berlin
-Alexandra Neldel
- Mathis Künzler
Russia
- Ne Rodis’ Krasivoy
-Nelly Uvarova
- Grigoriy Antipenko
Mexico
- La Fea Más Bella
-Angélica Vale
-Jaime Camil
Netherlands
- Lotte
- Nyncke Beekhuyzen
-Lars Oostveen
Spain
-Yo Soy Bea
-Ruth Núñez
- Alejandro Tous
USA
-Ugly Betty
- America Ferrera
- Eric Mabius
Greece
- Μαρία η άσχημη (Maria, i Aschimi)
-Aggeliki Daliani
-Anthimos Ananiadis
Belgium
-Sara
-Veerle Baetens
-Gert Winckelmans
Croatia/Bosnia/Serbia
- Ne daj se, Nina
-Lana Gojak
- Robert Kurbasa
Vietnam
- Cô Gái xấu xí
- Ngọc Hiệp
- Chi Bảo
Czech Republic
- Ošklivka Katka
- Kateřina Janečková
- Lukás Hejlík
Philippines
-I Love Betty La Fea
-Bea Alonzo
-John Lloyd Cruz
China
-Ugly Wudi
- Li Xin Ru
-Liu Xiao Hu
Poland
- BrzydUla
-Julia Kamińska
- Filip Bobek

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My first impression is that this is the prettiest Betty I’ve seen (although the character’s name is Lisa in this version).  And, of course, as pretty as she already is, she gets really gussied up by the end.  Pah.

According to the show’s Wikipedia entry, in the end Lisa manages to save and finally own Kerima Moda (Mode Magazine), rescues her boss David from death and the wrath of his then-fiancée, watches the dissolve of his engagement to Mariella, and eventually marries her boss.

I do like the proposal scene, but I just don’t see the American Daniel getting down on one knee.

I really do enjoy seeing snippets of the various incarnations of this show around the world – and seeing the similarities and differences from our own beloved show. 

And this song is awesome.  Do any of you know where I can find an English translation of the lyrics?

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One of the things I find fascinating is the phenomenon of Ugly Betty-type shows around the world.  There seem to be versions in every culture, and almost every country.  The “Ugly Duckling taking on the world” theme is, I think, a universal one.

I try to highlight these various shows when I can (I am fond of what I’ve seen of the Filipino version,  I Love Betty La Fea – featured in the video above, starring the beautiful Bea Alonzo).  MOST of these incarnations are based on the Columbian original, Betty la fea, although some are inspired by the Americanized version – The Bosnian Croatian-Serbian Ne daj se, Nina (”Don’t give up, Nina”), for instance.

The absolute best catalogue of these international Betty versions is found at Sir Lizard’s site Ugly Is The New Beautiful .  As you probably know, Sir Lizard is a frequent commenter at Ugly Betty News, and one of the most knowledgeable at that.  Not only is there a full catalog of international Ugly Betty-themed shows, there are some other fascinating tidbits at UITNB – my favorite being character comparison chart.

I just wanted to highlight this wonderful resource, in case you had never checked it out.

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I like how they used Mika’s “Hey Betty (You Are Beautiful)”. 

This version appears to be more slanted toward comedy, with heavy influences from the Columbian telenovela.

I know tastes are cultural, but of all the Bettys we’ve seen around the world, this one seems the most attractive initially – (I think the braces make a huge difference in the American version).  And, let’s face it: Bea Alonzo is such a beautiful young woman, it’s kind of hard to disguise.   Not to say America Ferrera is not a beautiful young woman.  Uh…I’ve dug a hole, I’ve better shut up now!

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What is really cool is that this version of the show will draw from both the Columbian and the US versions of the show.  That’s absolutely brilliant, I think.

Betty will be played by the lovely Bea Alonzo.  According to this post at the network’s site, here are some of the other characters (there is a definite difference from the US version):

• Ruffa Gutierrez is Daniella (I think this is a character similar to Wilhelmina)
• Nicolas is Betty’s male friend and is there for her through thick and thin. He is also physically-challenged.
• Julia is Betty’s loving mother. She cares for her daughter so much and for her, Betty is the most beautiful woman in the world.
• Hermes is the kind and supportive father of Betty.
• Andrew is Betty’s cute and confident younger brother.

According to the release from ABS-CBN, the cast will be introduced on the show “My Girl” on Monday.  “My Girl” is a Korean Asianovela.  I don’t know if this means the cast will be included in the episode of My Girl, or introduced during a break.  I know we have Filipino readers here, so maybe one of you could fill us in.

This really looks fascinating! 

Image: Newscom

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