The Swedish fashion giant, H&M was recently attacked in the media for the release of their latest swimwear campaign revealing an incredibly and unnaturally tan model. A message to the public being: you need to be very tan look great in a bathing suit.
With Sweden experiencing more people dying of skin cancer every year than in traffic accidents, it is no surprise that the Swedish Cancer Society is outraged.
The model, Isabeli Fonatana, has a beautiful natural golden skin tone that would have easily complemented the bathing suit, so why did H&M take her color to such extremes? We may never know the actual reasoning behind this decision, but we do know it was the wrong decision.
While the ultimate goal of advertisers and advertising agencies is to sell product, it is still important to maintain integrity in the message conveyed. Advertisers and marketers need to understand that when we do marketing well, we do it very well. Our consumers listen to what we tell them overtly and subtly. Be sure you evaluate your whole advertising message, not just a part of it.
Swimwear campaigns already put enough pressure on the average woman to “look like a supermodel” which contributes to excessive dieting and very often eating disorders. Now we can add obsessive tanning…where will the list of beauty requirements stop? H&M is now unintentionally promoting a deadly beauty ideal as the new fashion accessory and increasing the disorder of tanorexia in young women.
H&M released an apology stating it was not their intention to promote excessive tanning.
What do you think about the H&M ad? Do you believe advertisers and advertising agencies need to be more aware of all the messages they send – including the subtle ones of body images and beauty? Tell us what you think here, or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.
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I couldn’t agree with you more. Advertising and marketing professionals have a responsibility to maintain integrity in their messages; this Swedish ad shows none. “Tanorexia,” no matter how odd of a word, is a serious disorder, and it truly does become difficult for women to realize they are too tan. It also becomes more difficult to convince a friend she’s fine the color she is when gorgeous women such as Isabeli Fonatana flaunt an image that clearly states otherwise.
Courtney-
Thanks for your comments. It is very hard to convince women they are beautiful when the images they see makes them believe they need to be skinnier, taller, more tanned. Hopefully H&M, as well as other advertisers, will be more sensitive to these issues in the future. Thanks for reading!
Get really fine. Thanks for this.