“Body Positivity Is a Scam” (2,447 words)

The article “Body Positivity Is a Scam” by Amanda Mull argued that the “progressive” movements in the advertisement industry of certain brands have not been to promote body positivity. Rather, these advertisements have been catered to the feelings of the masses and are meant to drive up sales. Mull uses the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty as their main example as it started the movement through showing the Photoshop process. The reason Mull believes that this method works is because Dove is doing the exact opposite of, for example, high fashion companies. Dove has been using people of all sizes and skin tones to represent their company. However, since this campaign has gone “viral,” it seems as if the focus on the campaign is not to build women up, but rather to use this movement to their advantage to increase sales. It says to a consumer, “We support you, so you should support us.” This had led to multiple companies to do the same thing. I thought a really interesting point in this article was that the company Everlane promoted a new underwear line with a plus-size model without offering plus sizes. Mull is showing how this movement for companies can be hypocritical if the businesses are not practicing what they preach and are only doing what the public expects to drive up sales. I had never thought about these advertisements in this manner before, but when reading this article, it does make some sense. I do believe that some companies are taking a step in the correct direction by showing women of all types, especially since the high fashion world mainly uses tall, skinny women. I hope that most company’s intentions for body positivity are true, but at the end of the day, they are also a business trying to survive.

The article was organized very clearly, as the beginning stated the issue and the body went into detail as to why this is an issue. The story then told about what body positivity used to be about in the past, how women have been treated such as when they report assaults, and ended with the fact that these companies should focus on what they are selling because looks at the end of the day are not everything. This article was very well done and focused, as it looked at multiple reasons why there is an issue with this campaign. An aspect of this article that would be useful when creating publications in the future is embedding images from the campaigns discussed so that audiences have a reference. Something I really like about this article is the determined tone. Mull really wants audiences to know that this is a true problem that should not be looked over. (459)