Boots body shaming advert?

[MouthFullofGum]

So two curvy girls take off their sarongs and feel confident walking into the sea - Great.

But why do they have to walk by obviously thinner women who are made to look judgmental and unconfident in themselves?

I thought body confidence was about saying all shapes and sizes should be embraced? Not uplifting one to shame the other.

twinklebee, I took that to mean they were laughing at how improbably glamorous her beach look is (loads of jewellery and makeup etc) rather than laughing at her size. I don't see any body shaming in this ad. I just hear some bloody awful singing.

I didn't know women shaved their arms for most of my life. When I found out I realised for the first time ever that I have quite hairy arms. But I ain't gonna shave them now.

Not read the whole thread, but agree that it's a but disingenuous to use stunning plump size models as a 'representation' of fat women.

'nobody looks like that' - well I bloody do thanks

Well if you’re a model you surely are aware that most people don’t look like that. I used to do modelling when younger & as I was “short” ( 5ft 9) I would stare at these other super tall, very slim people in the room/lift with me & feel like I was tiny!

posted too soon.

whereas in day to day life I’m considered fairly tall & slim (less slim now after DC2).

It's true, Fancy,
I was once many many moons ago approached re modelling and then told I was a bit too short at 5ft 9''. Later I did end up letting some amateur photographers shoot my stumpy stature :)

Would we call them curvy??

Real women versus tv models. The Boots models look to be a UK dress size 10 and 12 to me. Not a UK dress size 20+ which is what the advert makers are probably trying to convince us.

‘Curvy’ means fat. It’s the polite word for it. If you eat too much you’ll get fat, you won’t get ‘strong, Real Woman-like, and Powerful’. You’ll just get fat. You wont inspire respect from fellow women, women are cats, they’ll laughs at you and snigger Jesus she ate all the pies what’s she thinking of wearing a bikini when she’s clearly over a size 14?

Men will tell you they prefer curvy women, but they won’t choose to watch curvy porn unless they’re specifically into that sort of thing.

Being overweight is risking your health, putting a strain on NHS services, and gives an irresponsible message to our daughters.

No, curvy is not ‘strong, empowering and proud’. Curvy is overweight, possibly obese, and you’ll be dead before your time once your oestrogen runs out that currently gives you small protection from heart related diseases.

The Boots advert is pathetic. Same as the Bio-Oil one. ‘Oh!Oh! My stretch marks !’ (Where?) Put women in charge of adverts and we might actually start to normalise purple stretchmarks, red blood, saddlebags, cellulite and saggy breastfeeding boobs.

I've seen women dancing in the sea before - in Ibiza and Thailand. All of them were size 8 or less. I quite like the advert. The message is about body confidence at any size, which can't be a bad thing.

Real versus models.

It's been pointed out that the arm shaving one isn't about arm hair, it's about the fact that the woman has a sleeve and that many who have tattoos elect to shave the skin they've had body art on as they wish to showcase their tattoos.

Real versus models

I am real and I don't look anything like these "real" women!
and neither do most of the women I see at work or on the school run.

Curvy means curvy, not fat. Ursula is curvy. Kate Middleton is skinny. They both look great. I don't look like either, but I am still not fat. The "skinny" model in the advert wasn't shown in a negative way either.

Being a "real" woman doesn't mean you are fat - some are, but many of us aren't and we are just as real. it doesn't mean we are all as slim as Kate to be fair

Actually, I like it. It's so unusual to see models who are a normal weight or overweight being used for ads like that. Seems to say 'I have a bikini body, no matter what you think'.

“I’m fed up of all of this bollocks tbh. What we need is NO focus on bodies at all. Just people doing their thing. It’s the unhealthy obsession society has with our physicality that has got us into this mess - just shifting the focus to a different body type does bugger all.“

@Writersblock2 spot on.

So much bitching on this thread surely we should all try and be fit and healthy plus not body shame others.
From a 40 plus black woman 5’3 size 8

I'm sure I read a thread the other day where someone said you always try and make a reference to your looks

Are they supposed to be curvy?

If y'all want to see curvy come on over and see me getting ready for the beach! Lol!

ha ha alltoomuchrightnow, I didn’t last too long as because I was short my 24 inch waist was a bit on the large side (this was the 90s). At school I was bloody lanky as fuck but dumpy at a casting! 🤣

The women who go on holiday look
Pretty much like the one they see in the airport to me. Well proportioned, flat belly, flawless skin.

I’m just waiting for belly rolls to
come back into fashion, they won’t though will they?

It’s the unhealthy obsession society has with our physicality

fashion might have changed over the centuries, but that has always been the case, I can't see that changing any time soon.

I know of the woman who sings the song for the commercial and funnily enough she does "look like that". Blonde, blue eyes, slim, athletic build. If she wasn't an actress she could be a model. The irony is multilayered.

I agree though OP. Surely body positivity should be championing healthy bodies and all their quirks (scars, stretch makes, cellulite etc).

Agreed with writersblock2

@OralBElectricToothbrush that's interesting, I've never heard of that being a thing before. Mind you the last tattoo I got was in 2003 and I've only shaved my legs twice since Christmas so I'm probably not the right demographic. Any ideas if that came from the makers of the ad or from elsewhere? It's quite a good idea for a way to flog more razors although I've not seen any adverts with men doing it.

It’s horribly patronising. It’s saying ooh look at us at boots for being so right on that fat girls (who aren’t even fat) can go swimming, wow who’d have thought it?