*Account Services Director Fran Nolan shares her thoughts on one of the most complained about ads of last Summer…*
Summer is officially here (allegedly), and if the sun does come out then the summertime images that come to mind have been formed not just from our own lovely holiday memories, but also from what we see and have seen in the media.
This means that communication agencies play a part in creating associations for summer! Even if it’s an ice cold beer on holiday or going for a drive on a hot day; creating demand and desire for summer and all that comes with it…. is what we do.
So was this why there was such a backlash last year when a large proportion of society were made to feel bad about summer coming – something that they would normally anticipate with excitement? I am of course talking about Protein World’s ‘Are you Beach Body Ready?’ campaign. The posters were accused of ‘body shaming’ and an online petition to remove them gathered more than 70,000 signatures. In addition to this Sadiq Khan announced earlier this month that Transport for London would no longer run ads which “could cause body confidence issues”.
> This ‘Beach Body Ready’ Ad Has Been Ruled ‘Not Offensive’ By Watchdog. Do You Agree? (link: https://t.co/IkDhDQVPB5 text: https://t.co/IkDhDQVPB5) (link: https://t.co/nN3i4pyQsm text: pic.twitter.com/nN3i4pyQsm)
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> — Lucy Rose Organics (@lucyrose1) (link: https://twitter.com/lucyrose1/status/674605434972545027 text: December 9, 2015)
From a marketing perspective this is very interesting because what was the crime here? Creating demand and desire is part of our day job. Beautiful people advertise products don’t they? And how can you create interest in a weight loss product if the model isn’t thin, toned and attractive? But they didn’t just talk to their target audience, they used generic holiday terms and asked everyone who happened to glance over “Are you beach body ready?”, and then the bikini body backlash began!
I welcome this backlash, I love that there was a protest in Hyde Park by women who were proud of their bodies in all shapes and sizes – good for you. You have given marketers a challenge! A challenge we welcome because we believe the best campaigns never have a victim, they are empowering, engaging, motivating and much harder to create!
However get them right and you reap the rewards, my favourite version of this was the ‘This Girl Can’ campaign which tells the unedited story of women who exercise and play sport – and celebrates the reality of cellulite, sweat and jiggling flesh. A year on and 2.8 million 14-40 year old women say they have done some or more activity as a result of this campaign. Remarkable work and a true victory in challenging conventions.