I decided that before I left the mall with nothing in hand, and called it a failed trip, I'd head to Victoria's Secret for a new bra and a lotion I was running low on. On the walk there, I passed by a giant advertisement on the outside of their store. THE PERFECT "BODY" was on it in giant letters, and man, they weren't kidding.
Behind the printed words, were maybe 3 or 4 models... who were very thin, tall, and extremely beautiful. And the ad said "the perfect 'body'"--showing me women with nice bodies... telling me that they were perfect. And I looked at the ad, then unfocused my eyes and looked at myself in the reflection of the display glass, then at the ad again, and then myself. Then I walked in and bought a bra and my lotion.
And although I was able to walk past it, and buy what I needed, it still made me angry. As an aspiring body positive goddess, I've come to terms with my size, and have learned to love myself. The ad didn't bother me, personally. It just rolled off my back, like "okay whatever Victoria's Secret, get your skinny angels out of my face and let me buy what I need." But that ad is just soooo aggravating for the effect it will have on younger generations, or those still struggling to accept their bodies.
For those of you who don't know, the word body is in quotation marks because one of their bra collections is called Body by Victoria. So I knew what they were trying to do with this ad. They were simply trying to say that you could find the perfect bra for you.
BUT WHY WHY WHY wouldn't they just say something along the lines of "the perfect fit" or "the perfect bra" or literally anything other than body. Their marketing team knew that this was a bad idea and would spark up controversy, so WHYYYY.
Now we have little girls walking around the malls with their parents seeing stuff like this-- and they don't know that "body" is a bra collection. To them, this ad is simple. These women have the perfect body; you should strive to look like these women; if you're not skinny, you're not perfect.
And it pains me so much that impressionable young girls are semi-subliminally being told that being thin is what you need to be to be considered beautiful! It pains me and it makes my blood boil. Because even though this might not be Victoria's Secret message, I'm sure they are fully aware that that is what this ad conveyed. So by making the decision to print this ad and post it in malls nationwide, they are body-shaming, whether they think so or not. AND THAT IS NOT OKAY.
I wanted to see what kind of media news their campaign was getting, and I found this great clip of Fox News correspondent, Pete Heggseth or something.
I went ahead and transcribed it for y'all. These words literally came out of his mouth:
Some other lady went ahead to say:
Another lady:
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! Watch the video and tell me that that is normal. Because I couldn't believe my ears the first time I watched that, or the second, and definitely not the third.
Absolutely NO ONE is saying that the skinny women on the ad are the issue. So why are all these Fox workers trying to protect the skinny models? Everyone can agree that they are beautiful, and have great bodies. That is known. No one is attacking them, their bodies, their poses, their work-- NOTHING. What the ad does is tell people that they have perfect bodies, even if body is in quotes. Like, I can't stress this enough. Young girls are walking around in malls seeing that ad, and HATING THEIR BODIES BECAUSE OF IT.
So to Pete, no this isn't faux outrage. I'm furious. I'm mad. I am so freaking upset that some stupid marketing team thought it was a good idea to put out ads like this, that make people who don't look like the women in the picture feel bad about themselves. Young girls already have enough pressures-- they don't need to feel bad about their growing bodies as well.
And to the second lady, NO ONE IS SHAMING THE SKINNY MODELS. Are you really that dense that you're unable to see the real shaming the ad is doing? The people upset with this ad are not shaming the models, the ad is shaming women who don't look like that. And no, I don't want to shop somewhere else, because VS does have some cute bras, and they make my tatas look fab, but they shouldn't be telling me to lose weight either.
And to the last lady, I will not get over it. For once, stop thinking about yourself, your fellow skinny coworkers on Fox News and the skinny models on the ad, and think about the young girls seeing this kind of stuff! That's what makes this ad an issue! I couldn't care less about what this ad does to me, a young adult who is comfortable in her size. I'm fat and I'm okay with it, but when you're 12 and 13, and overflowing with hormones and pressures from every which way direction, and super impressionable, this ad hits hard and it hits deep.
God! In case you couldn't already tell, I'm pretty darn worked up. It's just so upsetting to me that young girls are growing up hating themselves. I used to be that young girl who would skip meals, and cry in dressing rooms. It was a living hell. And I'm so mad that ads like this exist making it so that other girls have to go through that.
So I will shift this to a happier note- because on tumblr, we have a fabulous bodypos community, filled with fat babes with a sense of humor. And one fabulous member of that community did this:
For those of you who don't know, the word body is in quotation marks because one of their bra collections is called Body by Victoria. So I knew what they were trying to do with this ad. They were simply trying to say that you could find the perfect bra for you.
BUT WHY WHY WHY wouldn't they just say something along the lines of "the perfect fit" or "the perfect bra" or literally anything other than body. Their marketing team knew that this was a bad idea and would spark up controversy, so WHYYYY.
Now we have little girls walking around the malls with their parents seeing stuff like this-- and they don't know that "body" is a bra collection. To them, this ad is simple. These women have the perfect body; you should strive to look like these women; if you're not skinny, you're not perfect.
And it pains me so much that impressionable young girls are semi-subliminally being told that being thin is what you need to be to be considered beautiful! It pains me and it makes my blood boil. Because even though this might not be Victoria's Secret message, I'm sure they are fully aware that that is what this ad conveyed. So by making the decision to print this ad and post it in malls nationwide, they are body-shaming, whether they think so or not. AND THAT IS NOT OKAY.
I wanted to see what kind of media news their campaign was getting, and I found this great clip of Fox News correspondent, Pete Heggseth or something.
I went ahead and transcribed it for y'all. These words literally came out of his mouth:
What do they expect? It's Victoria's Secret. It's Victoria's Secret. I have no issue with this whatsoever. Body is also in quotes, no one will pay attention to that, right? But I believe body is the name of the bra or something. So the perfect "body," they didn't just say this is the perfect body. Obviously they're playing on that. I think they're probably playing on some of this - I'm gonna call it a faux outrage. It's not real outrage.
Some other lady went ahead to say:
Listen, shaming is shaming, and I will not shame these skinny ladies. They look great. They look great in their intimates which makes me want to buy their intimates. This is a business, it is not a social movement, okay? You don't like it, shop somewhere else.
Another lady:
But really, get over it. Even if you take the words body away, I mean, look at their bodies. Take the word body away. If it makes you feel bad about yourself, you have bigger problems than words on a billboard. These women are gorgeous.And here Pete literally says "Find me an imperfection right now."
ARE YOU KIDDING ME? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! Watch the video and tell me that that is normal. Because I couldn't believe my ears the first time I watched that, or the second, and definitely not the third.
Absolutely NO ONE is saying that the skinny women on the ad are the issue. So why are all these Fox workers trying to protect the skinny models? Everyone can agree that they are beautiful, and have great bodies. That is known. No one is attacking them, their bodies, their poses, their work-- NOTHING. What the ad does is tell people that they have perfect bodies, even if body is in quotes. Like, I can't stress this enough. Young girls are walking around in malls seeing that ad, and HATING THEIR BODIES BECAUSE OF IT.
So to Pete, no this isn't faux outrage. I'm furious. I'm mad. I am so freaking upset that some stupid marketing team thought it was a good idea to put out ads like this, that make people who don't look like the women in the picture feel bad about themselves. Young girls already have enough pressures-- they don't need to feel bad about their growing bodies as well.
And to the second lady, NO ONE IS SHAMING THE SKINNY MODELS. Are you really that dense that you're unable to see the real shaming the ad is doing? The people upset with this ad are not shaming the models, the ad is shaming women who don't look like that. And no, I don't want to shop somewhere else, because VS does have some cute bras, and they make my tatas look fab, but they shouldn't be telling me to lose weight either.
And to the last lady, I will not get over it. For once, stop thinking about yourself, your fellow skinny coworkers on Fox News and the skinny models on the ad, and think about the young girls seeing this kind of stuff! That's what makes this ad an issue! I couldn't care less about what this ad does to me, a young adult who is comfortable in her size. I'm fat and I'm okay with it, but when you're 12 and 13, and overflowing with hormones and pressures from every which way direction, and super impressionable, this ad hits hard and it hits deep.
God! In case you couldn't already tell, I'm pretty darn worked up. It's just so upsetting to me that young girls are growing up hating themselves. I used to be that young girl who would skip meals, and cry in dressing rooms. It was a living hell. And I'm so mad that ads like this exist making it so that other girls have to go through that.
So I will shift this to a happier note- because on tumblr, we have a fabulous bodypos community, filled with fat babes with a sense of humor. And one fabulous member of that community did this:
Look at her! YAAASSSSS, QUEEN. She loves her size, and is essentially giving the bird to this ad. I love this picture so much. It's the biggest "fuck you" I've ever seen. WORK IT GIRL.
What I want most is for companies to help realize that pushing the thin ideal puts an unbelievable about of stress on a young girl to reach these goals that simply aren't true. We should be teaching them that everyone is beautiful regardless of their size, their weight, their imperfections. I am just so sad knowing that there are girls out there leading unhealthy, destructive lives so that they can attain what they are being told is the perfect body. It just isn't right.
I'm going to go punch a wall or scream into my pillow or something.
Stay beautiful, lovelies. ~~
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