Beach Body Ready: Why Marketers Should Empower Women Rather Than Shame Themfeatured

by Jenni on April 25, 2015
Posted in Life & Style, Opinion

Protein World has come under fire over the past few days for creating an ad that features a woman in a bikini along with the question “Are you beach body ready?”

Critics have accused the ad of being sexist and promoting the idea that women are not ready to wear a bikini on holiday unless they live up to certain beauty standards.

More than 25,000 people have signed a petition calling for the posters to be removed, showing just how strongly people feel about the campaign.

Unrealistic expectations

There’s no denying that each and every day women are bombarded with adverts implying that they should look a certain way. It’s also easy to see how these images can seriously affect women’s body image and self esteem. As a result, thousands of women across the world find themselves under immense pressure to live up to these beauty standards. It’s no surprise then that every summer, many women rush out to buy the latest fitness DVD or try a new fad diet in an attempt to lose weight fast.

Tapping into our insecurities

While I certainly agree with everyone who says that Protein World’s ad doesn’t do women any favours, the fitness supplement company is clearly relying on tried and tested marketing techniques that tap into our insecurities and offers us a ‘solution’.

Since this is a fitness brand we’re talking about, and summer is fast approaching, it makes perfect marketing sense for them to capitalise on the fact that many women are looking to get in shape ready for the beach. After all, as Protein World has pointed out on Twitter, it certainly isn’t the first to use the phrase ‘beach body ready’. We see it in magazines all the time.

Also, one could argue that Protein World is simply showing us a model who has the type of body that its potential customers aspire to have.

Nevertheless, I understand why people feel that Protein World is doing very little to break down stereotypes. Just look at the photos below. Here we’re told that men should aspire to be strong and build muscle, while women are told that they should lose weight.

Men build muscle while women lose weight

Sure, the content of these ads may be based on actual data rather than stereotypes alone, but something tells me that advertisers need to start to break the mould and be more adventurous when it comes to reaching female audiences. It’s clear that this type of ad can work for brands like Protein World, but it’s also worth considering other methods of winning women over.

Empowerment > criticism

Over recent years it’s become clear that women want more from advertising. An increasing number of organisations are proving that by empowering women rather than making them feel bad, they can grab their attention and encourage them to act. Whether you like it or not, advertisers are cashing in on feminism.

Perhaps one of the finest examples of a campaign that reaches out to the modern woman and inspires her instead of putting her down is This Girl Can.

After just a few months the campaign has already started to encourage women to take part in exercise and believe in their own sporting abilities. It currently has more than 64,000 followers on Twitter and you only have to look at the #thisgirlcan hashtag to see just how well the message has gone down with women and girls.

We also have Always and its ‘Like A Girl‘ campaign, which questions why people use such a phrase as an insult, and Lean In’s ‘Ban Bossy‘ initiative.

Even Adidas and Nike have a handful of ads that are seemingly designed to motivate women (as well as sell trainers, of course).

Unfortunately, while these motivational videos prove that there is room for advertisements that encourage women to be themselves and strive for success rather than perfection, the internet in particular still has a way to go.

When celebrities like Beyonce are seemingly photoshopping their legs on Instagram in order to achieve a thigh-gap, what hope do the rest of us have?

And when it’s okay for The Mirror to admit to preferring the photoshopped Keira Knightly over the real one, is it any surprise that so many women choose cosmetic surgery to enhance their appearance?

When will the criticism end?

Fitness and lifestyle blogger, Cassey Ho, recently created the following video after receiving hurtful comments on social media:

Cassey says: “It’s hard to be content with the shape of your body when people are constantly telling you how fat you are. The backhanded compliments, the mean comments, the cyber bullying - all of this messes with us…and it hurts. What if getting flat abs and bigger boobs was as easy as a click. What if you could stop all the hate and just photoshop yourself right now, in real life? What would you change?”

Cassey’s video and the response to the Protein World ad shows that while ‘sexist’ ads have become the norm and there are always going to be trolls and bad comments, women aren’t going to take body criticism lying down.

Whether it’s the Jamelia body-shaming backlash, or the reaction from women around the world when artist Rupi Kaur’s photo was removed from Instagram because it showed period blood on her trousers, it’s clear that many women are willing to speak up until things change.

So what can we do in order to get our voices heard and show advertisers that body shaming just isn’t as effective as it used to be? Until all advertisers start to accept responsibility by striving to inspire women rather than criticise them, we need to do what we can to empower one another.

What can we do?

  • Whatever your size, feel proud of the way you look. Being happy is all that matters. If you want to lose weight before putting your bikini on, that’s okay too. But if despite the best intentions you find yourself doing nothing but sit on your bum and scoff chocolate in the weeks before your holiday, don’t beat yourself up about it.
  • If you want to share photos of yourself looking incredible in a bikini, do it. Don’t let anyone else’s standards stop you from feeling proud of your body.
  • If someone criticises your body in any way, tell them where to go. Most of the time, when a person makes a nasty comment about someone else’s appearance, it’s because they’re insecure about their own looks. Often, they’re jealous that someone else has the confidence to be proud of who they are, while they aren’t proud of themselves. As a result they try to make excuses and find ways to knock the other person down. Sometimes though, they’re just nasty people who think they’re better than everyone else.
  • Stop criticising yourself. How can you expect others to love you and respect you if you can’t love and respect yourself? Also, how can you expect others to love and respect themselves when everyone around them is constantly highlighting their own insecurities? For example, I have a friend who constantly complains about how fat she is despite being a very small dress size. I’m tired of hearing it.
  • Accept compliments. If someone pays you a compliment, whether you agree with them or not, say thank you. Don’t make up excuses, put yourself down, or try to prove them wrong. Here’s a funny and satirical example of how so many of us women are unable to praise ourselves or accept praise from others. I wouldn’t advise watching this if you’re easily offended or in the company of children.

I’d love to know what you think about the whole Protein World uproar. Do you think the ad is damaging, or do you think people have made a big fuss over nothing? What do you think needs to be done to promote positive body image?

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