Zara Learns Bad Things Happen When You Use Thin Models In A Pro-Curves Ad

Love your curves! Embrace your flaws! Celebrate yourself just the way you are!

You’ve no doubt heard all that noise before. 

Over the past decade, the majority of beauty brands have tried to adopt these ‘body positive’ slogans to sell products with varying success. Dove was one of the first, with their viral ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ ads. 

But this messaging isn’t so inspiring when you realise Dove’s owned by Unilever; the same conglomerate that’ll almost exclusively features conventionally attractive women doing dumb shit to sell Lynx Africa.

And today’s instalment of Can You Not comes straight from Spanish retailer Zara.

Irish TV & radio personality Muireann O’Connell was doing a spot of shopping in the store when she came across this baffling in-store ad:

You have got to be shitting me, Zara. pic.twitter.com/tiOsJv5AVy

— Muireann O’Connell (@MuireannO_C) February 28, 2017

O’Connell’s tweet has gone proper viral, with thousands of folks reacting to the chain’s strange ‘Love Your Curves’ ad with a mix of confusion and irritation:

@MuireannO_C @Hanecdote looking for them curves like pic.twitter.com/RupX3AjtqA

— Adi Peltz (@adi_peltz) February 28, 2017

@kellyanne_young @MuireannO_C Exactly. I know we all come in different shapes and sizes. Those girls are lovely but they have ZERO curves. ??

— Sophie Marshall (@tigersoph) February 28, 2017

@janemerrick23 @MuireannO_C Sometimes I think these shops do things like this on purpose to cause an uproar, ergo loads of free publicity

— Complete Control PR (@pollybirkbeck) February 28, 2017

Love your curves – @ZARA pic.twitter.com/4ERvTka2sO

— Bert Swattermain (@BertSwattermain) February 28, 2017

It’s important to note these people aren’t ripping the models. It’s the fact that the marketing dept thought that their unusually-slim figures represented what it looks like to “love your curves”.

@MuireannO_C to people slating the models, you’re missing the point. @ZARA wake up. This is not curvy. #EatingDisorderAwarenessWeek

— @FozCornwall (@ChangeToThis) February 28, 2017

Zara, this one’s for you: