Simply Be: ‘Every Body is Beach Body Ready’

Plus-size women’s wear label Simply Be has launched a campaign which
encourages women of all sizes to embrace their bodies on the beach this
summer suitably named ‘Every Body is Beach Body Ready.’

The high street label introduced its new campaign this weekend in response
to a recent advert from Protein World, which depicts a slim and toned model
in a bikini asking the public ‘Are you Beach Body Ready?’ The yellow
advertisement, which has been spotted all over the London underground for
the past three weeks, was originally designed to promote the company’s new
weight loss collection. However the poster’s insinuating undertones has
caused sparked a wave of backlash across the globe for implying only
certain body types are suitable to display on the beach. Several images of
vandalised posters have been shared online as well as doctored versions of
the ‘body-shaming’ ad.

Simply Be counters ‘fat-shaming’ ad with #EveryBodyisBeachBodyReady’

“You don’t need a certain type of figure to be acceptable on the beach (or
anywhere else). You’ve got a body? Take it to the beach and you’ve got a
beach body!” argues Simply Be on its website. The campaign kicked off this
weekend with a group of male and female protesters gathering in Hyde Park,
in London against the ‘fat-shaming’ context implied by the
advert. Protesters donned bathing suits and bikinis, with a group writing
‘This is a Beach Body’ in neon paint across their bodies. The
protest coincided with the launch of Simply Be own version of poster at
London’s Knightsbridge’s tube station, which features plus-size model
Jocelyn Corona in a bikini.

The plus-size label has also kicked off a viral campaign, #SimplyBekini,
inviting its customers to take a photograph in their favourite bikini and
share it on Instagram for the chance to win 100 pounds voucher for Simply
Be. “The Protein World campaign appeared just after our own ‘beach-body’
messaging launched – but with a very different philosophy!” commented Ed
Watson, Creative Director at Simply Be. “While the #SimplyBekini campaign
advocates merely putting your bikini on to get beach ready, the Protein
World message challenged women to shed the pounds. Because it so literally
flew in the face of our ethos of self-acceptance, we wanted to get our
message out further, hence taking ad space in one of London’s busiest tube
stations.”

A petition has been launched on Change.org asking the company to take down
its advert, gathering over 70,000 signatures to date. The Advertising
Standards Authority (ASA) banned the orginal advert after receiving 360
complains and reportedly investigating whether the ads “breaks harm and
offence rules or is socially irresponsible.” However, the original reason
behind their decision to block the ad is said to have stemmed from
“concerns about a range of health and weight loss claims made in the ad.”

Protein World stands by advertisement in spite of controversy

Despite the controversy caused by the advert, Protein World continues to
stand by their advertisement and refuse to listen to a “vociferous, vocal
minority of protesters.” In an interview with Breitbart, the 18 month old
online company’s Head of Global Marketing, Richard Staveley said: “The
campaign absolutely, categorically will not be pulled by Protein World. We
have 300,000 happy customers and we will not pander to this a particularly
vociferous minority. There’s no body shaming going on. Genuinely, 100 percent of this was driven by talking to our female customers and asking them
what they want.”

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And whilst protest against the advertisement was originally designed to
bring attention to the ‘body-shaming’ undertone, it
has inadvertently helped boost Protein World’s online profile and increased
sales. “I couldn’t have dreamt or hoped of having our advert reproduced
more times across the news networks and social media as it has been done,”
pointed out Staveley. “This protest has been absolutely phenomenal for us
and entirely counter-productive for them…We’ve added 5000 new customers.
Sales are booming.”