When flipping through a lingerie catalog or shopping online, many women seem to notice a huge difference between theirs and the models’ bodies. In addition to dieticians, personal trainers and makeup artists making these women photographically flawless, models also have Photoshop and other retouching systems to make their bodies look perfectly proportionate, toned and tanned.
Aerie, American Eagle’s lingerie line, is trying to bridge this gap between models and the “real world.” They recently introduced a series of ads in which their models are unretouched.
“I thought the new campaign was a refreshing and honest take on advertisement,” sophomore finance and pre law student Jordan Koziol said.
In almost every picture, the company wrote the comment, “The real you is sexy,” and urged girls across the nation in every shape and size to send in pictures with the hashtag #aeriereal to be featured on their site. Instilling the fact that every woman is beautiful, regardless of how big or small, can have long-term effects on the confidence of women.
“If the media starts to showcase more average, healthy looking models, hopefully it will start to erase the effects that society’s preconceived notions of beauty have on young women today,” sophomore history major Emily Montagna said.
According to dosomething.org, a nonprofit site that acts as a catalyst for social change in young people, about 58 percent of college-aged women feel pressure to be a certain weight. Even scarier, the site notes that 91 percent of women claim to be unhappy with their bodies.
Many blame statistics like these on the media, and their portrayal of what “beautiful” should be. Aerie is out to change that.
However, the models in the Aerie ads are still models. While some of them are embracing their curves and not perfectly flat stomach, a pimple or flyaway hair is still unlikely to be found.
Regardless, most people are coming to the consensus that American Eagle is making a step in the right direction with their naturally beautiful campaign.
