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I'm not sure that a label of shallow would be particularly bothersome.
It'd be a lie to say that we're not interested in ourselves first, and others later. With that position in mind, I think it would be hard to posit that attending to your own attractiveness (even for hours each day) is shallow, unless self-interest is shallow in it's essence. In that case, I wouldn't be upset at being called 'shallow,' as self-interest is a requisite to having a will-to-live.
If shallow defines our interest in others, I again draw issue with the usefulness of such a description. Being interested in individuals who make money, pay attention to their own attractiveness (as in the self-interest described above), behave appropriately, or even have certain possessions in which you're interested, is again acting out of self-interest. In determining a life-long (or even temporary) mate, finding someone who is interesting to us should be far more important than finding someone who "will do."
I find that this label unfortunately causes individuals to 'settle' for things which they are unhappy with, simply because an interest in the opposition would be considered 'shallow.'
There's nothing wrong with knowing exactly what you want (whether it be your husband's money, fame, personality, looks, or other arbitrary characteristic) and looking for it specifically. If anything, I value shallow people for their ability to identify what they want.
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"I'm typing on a computer of science, which is being sent by science wires to a little science server where you can access it. I'm not typing on a computer of philosophy or religion or whatever other thing you think can be used to understand the universe because they're a poor substitute in the role of understanding the universe which exists independent from ourselves." - Willravel
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