This isn’t the first time underwear brand Victoria’s Secret has been in the news for their advertising.
This time, it was for a campaign which showed a line of ten supermodels standing in their underwear, with the words “Perfect ‘Body” hovering over the top of them.
The reaction to this? Uproar.
It’s really not healthy to put yourself and your body down just because of people you see in the media.. ie. Victorias Secret models — Rebecca (@rr_redshaw) December 11, 2013
The word ‘Body’ actually refers to their new bra range and has since been changed by the company to ‘”A Body for every Body”.
This is due to a petition that was set up on Change.org titled: “Apologise for, and amend, the irresponsible marketing of your new bra range ‘Body'” which gained over 30,000 signatures.
Along with the petition, competing underwear brand JD Williams put out another campaign titled ‘#Perfectlyimperfect’ hitting back at the Victoria’s Secret ad.
Ed Watson, a spokesperson for the company said: “We have a responsibility as a retailer to promote positive body image to our customers and that means being representative of women in the UK.”
JD Williams’ campaign shows a group of women sizes 10-16 standing in a line in their underwear similar to the Victoria’s Secret campaign.
The problem behind this is that just as Victoria’s Secret has no one over a size 8, JD Williams has no one under a size 10. This makes both brands just as bad as each other.
The double standards behind weight in women often sways against people who have a slimmer body type, but just because somebody is smaller than a size 8 doesn’t mean that they should be scrutinised for being so.
There is such a double standard when it comes to the perfect body for women that it seems impossible to find a comfortable weight. #stressed — ⒷⓁⓊⒺⓈⓄⓊⓁ (@BlueSoul30) August 20, 2012
Anifa Lakemore 22, a fashion model says: “Slimmer women often feel like they should be apologetic for being slim. All sizes need to be represented. The fashion industry should work with the NHS to promote health, that means not anorexia and not obesity, but fitness.”
Many women are naturally slim and often try to put on weight due to the new obsession with having a ‘big bum’, however this is often overlooked. The problem with this obsession is highlighted in songs such as Anaconda by Nicki Minaj.
Minaj raps, “I wanna see all the big fat ass bitches in the motherfucking club, fuck you if you skinny bitches.”
Another example is All About That Bass by Meghan Trainor who sings “I’m bringing booty back, go ahead and tell them skinny bitches that.”
I’m sure if a slimmer girl were to start rapping negatively about ‘fat bitches’, there would certainly be an uproar.
it’s cool if you’re “body positive” but it’s not cool if you’re shaming more petite people because they aren’t a ‘plus size’ — maddy ☽ (@flowerkittxn) August 29, 2014
Jennifer Angolioff 22, a plus-size model says: “It’s either super skinny or super fat, there is no middle man. But I don’t think anything unhealthy should be encouraged either, some shops such as ASOS promote ‘plus size’ when in fact they are just overweight. This is annoying for me as I actually work hard to maintain a healthy lifestyle.”
As much as it’s wrong to insult someone for being big, it’s just as wrong to insult someone for being slim. If these campaigns want to become popular they should promote health and fitness.
But at the end of the day, they’re just trying to sell pants.
Featured photo courtesy of JD William