Supermodel Bella Hadid has had a pretty tumultuous few weeks.
She was announced as the new angel for Victoria’s Secret (AMAZING!) but also, news broke that her and her partner The Weeknd had broken up (BOOO, BREAK UPS SUCK).
But onwards and upwards for Bella – she just announced on her Instagram that she’s the new ambassador/face of Nike!
Which is huge; becoming the face of such a massive brand like that is a bloody big deal.
Unfortunately, her happy announcement (a cute Insta photo of her posing in front of her first major Nike billboard) has been grievously marred by people leaving horrendous body-shaming comments on her post.
Many are masking their misogynistic and problematic ideals with concern for her health, or the integrity of the Nike name as a brand for athletes – but body-shaming is body-shaming is body-shaming. Same same.
Comments include suuuuuuper empathetic commentary like,
@itsprattwitch ‘Worst candidate for a sport brand. She doesn’t even have an athletic body :s she’s just plain . She should just stay as a runway model. She also doesn’t have curves to be a VS model’@dhvanishah027 ‘She looks anorexic :/’@aliasrepunteclearly ‘VS is pushing you to lose more weight. I’ve seen interviews with models already so thin being told they need to lose more weight.’@greyeyedI ‘love how so many athletic companies are signing models now and not athletes because they know people look up to models more then they lookup to people with real talent’@ameliaharding ‘Yeh this is why young girls get eating disorders, when being abnormally thin is glorified. Well done @nike’@m4delaine ‘@parzipan what a terrible ad lmfao I’m disappointed in Nike wtf what are they even advertising in that’@lunaedevries ‘Sooooo skinny, gurrl you sould eat something….’@ahmedalhameediyahoocom ‘Go order something from Macdonalds you seem starving badly’@flawless_ladie ‘Nike? She’s not an athlete but more importantly it’s giving young girls unrealistic expectations yet again. Why not use @theashleygraham come on now @NIKE have some sense.’@claireelizawoodley ‘Too thin to represent s fitness label I’m quite shocked . Your ribs are almost sticking out’
See for yourself below:
Yup, Bella is thin. Some people are. Assuming skinny people are unhealthy is a shitty thing to do. Assuming all plus-size people are unhealthy is a shitty thing to do. Assuming anything about a strangers health just by appearance is a shitty thing to do.
The only body you can comment on is your own, yo. It’s the only body that should matter to you.
If you’re mad Nike‘s casting models instead of athletes, you could contact Nike, y’know? Seriously, you could politely email and tell them that you prefer their campaigns with athletes rather than models, for reason x or y or z.
Positive reinforcement over negative; be constructive, not destructive. 
Source/Photo: Instagram / @bellahadid.
