Advertising campaigns promoting a variety of beauty
With the approach of summer calls are starting to be heard from all sides to prepare for the beach season and urgently lose weight in order to look decent in a bathing suit. Despite the fact that the concept of a “beach body” is gradually becoming a thing of the past, there is still a long struggle ahead: it’s not worth expecting that people will no longer be condemned in the near future for the “flaws” of their appearance. ModCloth, an online retailer recently, introduced bodybuilding advertising for swimsuits, which should help make a difference. We are talking about 10 more campaigns, whose authors openly advocate for a variety of beauty and are trying to break down stereotypes.
Lane bryant
Brand Lane Bryant, which produces women's large-sized clothing, attracted everyone’s attention a year ago: it introduced the #ImNoAngel advertising campaign, which challenged the famous “angels” Victoria's Secret, in which several plus-size models were filmed.
"Despite the fact that 67% of women wear clothes of 14-24 sizes, they are still practically not represented in the media," said the president and CEO of the company Linda Heesley. "Inequality exists, and we continue to fight with it." In the fall, the brand introduced another ad campaign, Plus Is Equal, in which plus-size models were shot by Candice Huffin, Ashley Graham, Victoria Lee, Georgia Pratt, Justin Lego and Sabina Carlsson. Her goal is to encourage retailers to finally pay attention to women whose appearance does not fit into strict model parameters.
Swimsuits for all
Manufacturer of swimsuits Swimsuits For All for several years tirelessly says that the concept of "beach body" is untenable and that any body is beautiful. The advertising campaigns of the brand are always noticed by the press, since the simple idea that any woman is beautiful in her own way and can look great in a bathing suit still seems revolutionary. One of the brightest Swimsuits For All promotions is associated with the annual release of the magazine Sports Illustrated, dedicated to swimsuits: last year, the brand bought an ad for the publication and placed on it a picture of the plus-size model Ashley Graham. This year, Ashley has already appeared on the cover of the Sports Illustrated special edition, and Swimsuits For All placed another ad in the room: Graham starred in it with the British model with Ghanaian roots Filomena Cuao and the 56-year-old model Nicola Griffin - an unprecedented case for the magazine, pages of which most often appear twenty years old.
Cyrille Gassiline
Cyrille Gassiline - one of the few Russian brands that advocate the diversity of beauty. In advertising campaigns of the brand, models of different ages and with the most different types of appearance are taken, which do not always correspond to the stereotypical ideas about how the model should look. One of the heroines of the brand’s latest advertising campaign was Olga, the model for the old Aldushka model agency that opened this spring.
In addition, the brand has been working on the Gallery project for a year already - a series of portraits of fans of the brand, whose heroines are women of various professions and from different fields of activity.
Lush
The Australian division of Lush launched the "Go Naked" advertising campaign, dedicated to two important topics at once: diversity of beauty and environmental protection. Several Lush employees appeared in advertising naked: they spoke out against the senseless and excessive use of plastic packaging for cosmetics. According to representatives of Lush, advertising images were not processed in a graphic editor.
Despite the fact that the Lush campaign was enthusiastically received on social networks, the Australian Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) received several official complaints that the advertisement is “pornographic” and “offensive” and it is unacceptable to place it in shopping centers where children can see it . As a result, Lush was forced to remove promotional materials a few days ahead of schedule. Australian Lush director Pita Granger said that, despite these events, the company does not plan to change its advertising strategy: "We want to inspire people, not make them feel terrible because of photos that probably have nothing to do with reality “for how much they were changed in the graphic editor."
Torrid
The heroes of advertising campaigns are increasingly becoming ordinary people who have no modeling experience, and many brands - from Marc by Marc Jacobs to Monki - regularly organize castings in social networks. In last year's Torrid Plus Size Retailer campaign, three brand fans took off, who were selected via Instagram. The filming of each of the heroines took place in their hometown; their pictures appeared in the catalog and in the print advertising of the retailer.
“Our clients often ask us why our clothes are advertised only by professional models, and not by“ ordinary girls, ”and we answered this question,” said Torrid CEO Lisa Harper. “This is a very serious step - to point the camera at these girls and give them platform for self-expression. The fashion industry has ignored them for too long - we want to change the situation. "
David's Bridal
It is believed that the bride must start losing weight before the wedding in order to look better in a white dress - this stereotype continues to live, despite the fact that 2016 is the year of the year. Therefore, the campaign of the new spring collection of the American brand David's Bridal so strongly stands out from the rest: the model with the 14th size Mercy Watson became the heroine of the shooting. "We understand that our customers have different sizes of clothing and prefer different styles, so it was so important for us to reflect this diversity in our advertising campaign," said Trevor Lann, senior vice president of the company and director for customer relations. According to him, the average customer David's Bridal wears 14th size clothing, like Mercy Watson.
David's Bridal is not the first season trying to make their advertising campaigns more inclusive: in the past, in her lookbook appeared well-known plus-size model Candace Huffin.
Selfridges
Selfridges, a British department store, has long been struggling with stereotypes: for example, last year it opened a gender-neutral pop-up department, whose task was to show that clothing is primarily a way of self-expression and it does not have to comply with gender prescriptions. This year Selfridges decided to focus on the theme of love for their bodies. The department store presented the EVERYBODY campaign, in which several dancers, a model and an actress appeared, which company representatives saw on the streets and in London dance studios. The campaign is dedicated to the diversity of beauty and the beauty of movement; Selfridges are calling for value.
Selfridges has also recently released an Incredible Machines commercial that is dedicated to loving and respecting your body against the standards that society is trying to impose. Michelle Lamy, model Naomi Shimada, fashion editor and owner of the nail salon Wah Nails Sharmadin Reid, trans-activist Charlie Creggs and Ruxana Begum, the Thai boxing champion who created a sports headdress for Muslim women, took part in it.
Dressmann
It is obvious that beauty standards put no less pressure on men than women: men see “ideal” bodies in advertising and media in the same way and experience that they do not correspond to the “norm”. Dressmann, a Norwegian clothing brand, hopes to make a difference: in September, it launched the #JustTheWayYouAre campaign and launched a commercial in which men of different ages and with different types of figure took off their underwear.
“We want to beat the stereotypical notion that some types of appearance are better, more beautiful or more normal than others,” said Knut Vidar Nielsen, marketing director for Dressmann. “Simply put, we want to show that the ideal of male beauty does not exist - all men perfect. "
Debenhams
In 2013, the British department store network Debenhams released a lookbook with very different characters: Paralympic athlete, several older models and plus-size models appeared in it. "To show all the variety of clothes and clothing brands presented in Debenhams this season, we chose models that inspired us with their unique appearance and personality," said fashion critic Karin Franklin, who participated in the shooting.
The company believes that the shooting reflects the diversity of Debenhams customers, among whom there are very different people, and they hope that this lookbook will help many people finally accept and love their bodies.
Neon moon
In contrast to the standards of the fashion industry, there are more and more brands promoting the ideas of body positive and love for their own body. One of them is the brand of feminist underwear Neon Moon. For Valentine's Day, the brand launched an advertising campaign called "Celebrate You", urging women to love their bodies and accept themselves as they are. In the Neon Moon commercial, several women of different ages took off with different types of figures: in the video, they confess love to their forms, stretch marks, scars - what society is considered to be shortcomings.
Bodipozitivnuyu advertising underwear can be found in other brands - for example, the brand Lonely and the famous Swedish brand & Other Stories.
Photo: Lane Bryant, Swimsuits For All, Cyrille Gassiline, Lush, Torrid, David's Bridal, Selfridges, Dressmann, Debenhams, Neon Moon