US lingerie brand Aerie has become the latest to ditch Photoshop and size-zero models to promote "the real you".
A sister company to American Eagle Outfitters, Aerie have followed in the viral footsteps of brands like Dove, Pantene and Special K by pushing "body positivity" with their 'Real' Spring 2014 campaign.
The ads, photographed by John Urbano, feature un-airbrushed girls (but "no more supermodels") lounging about in their underwear. In the interests of, uh, journalism, here they are:
Beyond this ad campaign, Aerie's website employs plus-size models — when customers shop online, the models displayed wearing the clothes change to match the user's body type.
Here's a crazy theory, though. What if, instead of making girls feel better about their bodies, the "No Photoshop" movement makes them feel worse?
After all, when you know, on some level, that Photoshop has been used in the creation of an image, there's a sort of 'get-out' clause there — "Of course I don't look like that," you might think, "because I haven't been Photoshopped".
But when that same person looks at these images of women who look fabulous without Photoshop, with bodies that still won't be attainable for most, doesn't that create a whole new set of problems (or, at least, fail to resolve the old ones)?
All the same, Aerie and the like are clearly trying to do something positive here.
(Via Mashable)
