O.C. Boy to Have More On Than Just Some Sunscreen : Ad campaign: Two-year-old, chosen from 100,000, will be male counterpart of new Coppertone girl.

For four decades, the mischievous image has bared itself to sunscreen buyers on billboards nationwide: an adorable little girl, her tan line and backside revealed to the world by a cocker spaniel tugging at her bikini bottom.

But now it’s the 1990s, and that overexposed image received a make-over Monday when a 2-year-old boy from Garden Grove was picked from about 100,000 contestants to represent a national sunscreen maker as the Little Mister Coppertone for a new advertising campaign.

Dalton Orband will begin pitching sunscreen for Coppertone beginning in the summer of 1994, company officials announced. Crowned as the new Little Miss Coppertone on Monday was Alexis Durgee, 4, of Boca Raton, Fla.

The sunscreen company first selected a Little Miss Coppertone in 1953 after the mother of 3-year-old Cheri Brand painted her daughter playing with a neighbor’s dog. Coppertone has used that logo as one of its most enduring images ever since--despite repeated protests through the years from some feminists who complain about its focus on a child’s sexuality.

But there’s a difference this time around: neither Orband nor Durgee will be showing any bare bottom for the current campaign. Coppertone is making sure of that.

With growing fears of skin cancer and overexposure to the sun, Coppertone has changed its tune. The company that in the 1940s admonished consumers, “Don’t be a paleface,” is now urging people to keep their skin healthy.

Tanning is “the last thing in the world Coppertone would talk about today,” said Lisa Kovitz, a spokesperson for Schering-Plough, the New Jersey-based parent company of Coppertone. “People’s habits and desires about the sun have changed. It’s important to be sun sensible and sun smart.”

Coppertone officials aren’t saying how they plan to use Dalton, but the new campaign will focus not on the bronzed look, but rather on avoiding unhealthy exposure to the sun. The Garden Grove boy will serve as a focal point for that message, and one company official said his photogenic “charm” distinguished him from the field of contenders. He will get plenty of media exposure as part of the campaign--but no money.

“We’re very excited here. We’re in shock,” said April Orband, the boy’s mother. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

Dalton could be heard singing in the background during a telephone interview with his mother from Lake Buena Vista, Fla., where the contest was held. But he was too excited to say anything other than “Yeah, yeah” when asked if he was happy at winning.

April Orband picked up a form for the contest at a local drugstore earlier this year after she saw an advertisement for it. She had been struck by how much her toddler looked like the current Miss Coppertone and decided that it might be a fun thing to try.

She and her husband, Bob, submitted a photo of her son playing in a pool in the family’s back yard.

They also prepared a 50-word essay in which Dalton lauded the virtues of Coppertone and said he liked to use it while playing at Disneyland and fishing for shark. “I like to be a healthy tan little man,” he declared.

But dermatologists say no tan is a good tan.

Dermatologists recommend that children avoid sunlight until they are between 3 months and 6 months old. After that, both children and adults should avoid sun between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. and should wear a sunscreen that protects against both UVA and UVB rays, two different wavelengths of light that occur naturally in sunlight. (Coppertone is one of several brands that offers protection against both wavelengths.)

“There’s no such thing as a healthy tan,” said Edward Young, a Sherman Oaks dermatologist who, like several other dermatologists contacted Monday, expressed concern that Coppertone was targeting children in an ad campaign.

Studies have shown that children who experience even one severe burn before the age of 15 are at a much higher risk of developing melanoma later in life than those who are not burned.

“We get 80% of our damage from the sun before the age of 20,” said Kathleen Hutton, a Newport Beach dermatologist. “(Care of) little children is where we really need to focus.”

That’s just what Coppertone is trying to do in selecting a male and a female model for their products, company officials said Monday.

“Good sun care is just as important for little boys as it is for little girls,” said Coppertone spokeswoman Kovitz.

But those who follow marketing fads speculated that the company may have another motive behind the selection: an attempt to cover its behind. “The gender war is still waging and companies are really fearful of agitating either of the contenders,” said Gerald Celente, editor and publisher of Trends Journal, which tracks business and economic trends on a worldwide basis.

“There’s more concern that you don’t want to make an overt move that might be regarded by someone as sexist. Anytime skin comes out, you have to really be careful,” Celente said.

But women’s groups, who have protested the Coppertone ad in the past for its focus on women’s appearance and the sexuality of a child, said the selection of a male and a female model will do nothing to correct damaging stereotypes.

“The idea that this is eradication of sexism by doing to little boys what’s been done to little girls is absurd,” said Lisa McClanahan, co-coordinator of the Bayview chapter of the National Organization for Women. “Images like this hurt and degrade women and children by objectifying them.”

Sun Care Tips For Children

Here are some tips for protecting children from the damaging effects of the summer sun.

* Keep infants younger than 6 months out of direct sunlight.

* Use sunscreens on children as young as 3 to 6 months unless directed otherwise by a physician.

* Look for broad-spectrum sunscreens that protect against both UVA and UVB rays, but check with a pediatrician before use to guard against the remote chance of rickets in children, a skeletal disease resulting from insufficient sunlight and Vitamin D.

* Limit children’s exposure during peak sun hours between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

* Keep infants’ heads covered when in the sun; older children should wear caps with visors.

* Use sunscreens even in shade to protect against reflected sunlight.

* Be sure children use sun protection on cloudy or overcast days.

* Protect sun-sensitive areas such as face, ears and neck with a high SPF sunscreen.

* Use waterproof products when swimming and reapply after toweling off.

* Reapply sunscreen as often as possible on particularly hot days--as often as once every hour.

* Continue to use sunscreens even after youngsters have begun to tan.

* Introduce older children to idea of using sunscreen; educate them about the importance of avoiding sunburn.

Source: Schering-Plough HealthCare Products Inc. (maker of Coppertone) and local dermatologists.