The body positive movement; is it any surprise that this is one of the many modern day movements that appeeling wants to stand behind, and play an active role in?
The body positive movement has existed for quite some time now and has been rapidly gaining momentum over the past few years with the help of social media to amplify its voice, and the new generation of young men and women who have had enough of society enforcing stereotypes onto our youth. The body positive movement is a large-scale (predominantly female) group of individuals who have come together from all over the world, and dominated all social media platforms and taken the world by storm, demanding that their voices be heard. It’s hard to leave your house these days without encountering some form of the body positive movement’s voice in your surrounding world. It also isn’t difficult, unfortunately, to spot things in your everyday life that contradict everything the movement — and everyone who stands behind it — stands for.
Every day, we see and abundance of ads in the media that promote one particular body type, meanwhile these same ads encourage you to be proud of the skin that you live in, no matter what body type you have. This contradictory phenomena can be seen almost anywhere you look, on social media, fashion magazines, and in a variety of specific brands who claim to stand behind body positivity while only displaying individuals with one particular body type in their ads and on their storefronts.
Fortunately though, thanks to the body positive movement, there seems to have been a significant shift in what we see regarding self-love and body positivity in the media. Major brands such as Aerie have stopped restricting what sizes their models have to be. More specifically, Aerie has stopped photoshopping their ad photos altogether, no longer airbrushing cellulite or so-called “imperfections.” Aerie has set an example for their competitors and other companies in the market who sell similar items such as women’s underwear, bras, and lingerie, where semi-nude photos are needed to display their product efficiently in their ads. If you’re going to advertise products such as these, you need to be inclusive of all body types and start normalizing the raw power of human beauty.
Other companies and brands have attempted to make strides in the same direction as Aerie, such as Victoria’s Secret’s Love My Body campaign, and Dove’s Real Beauty campaign. However, making such strides does not come without complications and criticism. Victoria’s Secret had the right motive behind their campaign, but their execution proved rather poor. The message, to love your body, was the right one to send out to the world — however, the main image used for their campaign showed absolutely no body diversity, contradicting the message they were trying to send entirely. Dove’s Real Beauty campaign more or less conveyed their message through their ad’s main image. Though still not representative of every body type (which is somewhat hard to do with just one photo), Dove succeeded where Victoria’s Secret did not, in representing more body diversity in their campaign and relating more to their ad’s slogan.
It is important to note, however, that ad campaigns can only try to project to the world what they think real beauty is — what they believe their target society thinks real beauty is. In reality, real beauty is whatever you think it should be; what real beauty means to you. If you haven’t defined what real beauty is for yourself yet, that’s totally okay, and you stand with millions of other men and women worldwide who haven’t identified it for themselves yet. Ad campaigns and body positive voices through the media try to help people out with defining what real beauty is, trying to make people more aware and open about their thoughts about it. Some ads may have good intentions but project completely different messages with the imagery they choose to be the backbone of their campaigns. The whole thing is just a lot of trial and error. In the end, “real beauty” is you. Real beauty is when you reach the point where you stop comparing yourself to others and to that one specific body type we still see plastered everywhere. Real beauty is when you adopt the body positive mindset. Real beauty is you taking care of yourself and loving yourself for it. Real beauty is whatever you deem it to be. It is whatever you make it. However you define it, and how you own it.
Being body positive takes time, and a lot of people face struggles while adapting that mindset. Lots of companies make adjusting to the body positive mindset difficult while they project no other than one specific body type. At the same though, there are lots of companies, models, actors, and actresses, and individuals striving to get the word out there that body positivity is something every person should embrace, own, and love. Aerie is one of those companies setting the example for others to follow in. Models such as Ashley Graham and Jessica Leahy are making their voices heard and shifting the modelling focus away from only very slim women, showing the world that we come in all shapes and sizes — and teaching us to love absolutely everything about that.
The body positive movement is growing rapidly and making its voice heard worldwide. It is helping people adopt healthier mindsets about their own and other’s bodies, while at the same time educating them about what it means to be truly body positive, and how to love the skin that you live in.
Appeeling is joining the body positive movement, and we want the world to hear our voice along with the millions of others who are striving to make a change in this world and help people adopt healthier mindsets about themselves and others. Here at appeeling, we want to show the world what body diversity, positivity, love, and acceptance can look like in a company. We want you to know that no matter what body type you rock, no matter what society may tell you-you have to look like, we love you — and you look absolutely beautiful, darling.
Please let us know about any body positive voices you think we should know about and follow!