This new Aerie campaign battles industry standards in the best way!
Aerie, the American Eagle underwear line for teens, has been major #feministgoals ever since they moved away from Photoshopping their models in 2014 as part of their #AerieReal campaign. They are addressing the reality that women’s bodies are constantly scrutinized, and must fit into essentially unattainable norms to be considered beautiful.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UktgRClp7Bc?feature=oembed
Now, on their 10th anniversary, they are continuing to battle the fat-shaming rampant in the fashion industry with their newest body-positive campaign entitled “Share your Spark.” They launched a video using an array of women diverse in age, size, and ethnicity. While some of them were models, many worked as bloggers, designers, artists, or other professions, and had never been at a photoshoot before.
The video is set to Haille Steinfeld’s power anthem Love Myself, and features all of these women happily dancing, joking around, and modeling Aerie underwear while holding sparklers. There are sound bites of different women sharing their experiences. One woman, Shivani Persad, says,
“Even if you don’t see yourself in media, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have a spark of your own.”
Another, Barbie Ferreira, says,
“When I was younger, I never had representation of people I could truly relate to.”
Finally, British model Iskara Lawrence, who works as Aerie’s Role Model as well as an advocate for the National Eating Disorder Association, provides narration, saying,
“What spark do I want to share? Together, we can learn to love our real selves and change the world.”
We are so happy about the work Aerie is doing, and how the campaign encourages women to share their spark and celebrate what makes them feel happy, confident, and beautiful.
