that’s not my size
There are lots of fashion labels and companies that have savvy fashion marketing and do it well. Domino Dollhouse, an independent American plus size brand is one such company I can think of. Autograph, an Australian brand, does a relatively decent job too.
Then, there are the companies that make you think, at best, that there is no one behind their social marketing at all, and at worst, the person behind their social marketing has absolutely no idea how it works and is unrepentant when they stuff up.
I mentioned City Chic a few posts back. Sadly, I have yet another Australian brand to add to the list. I’m especially annoyed about this brand because I like so much of their current stock, but I can’t, in good conscience, support a brand that has stuffed up this badly and doesn’t even have the decency to apologise. Instead, they just delete the post they made and keep deleting negative comments on their Facebook page.
I’m talking about My Size.
I’ve had a good relationship with My Size on my fashion blog. I’ve reviewed clothing from there before. The marketing rep I talked to was lovely. But whoever is in charge of their Facebook media needs a serious schooling before I will recommend their clothing again.
Here’s what they did. They posted up a some ecard (ugh) saying on their Facebook page that said this:
Dear Girls: Dressing immodestly is like rolling around in manure. Yes, you’ll get attention, but only from pigs. Sincerely, Real Men.
They then went on to say:
Styles come and go, but class stays forever! When you’re putting your outfit together make sure you feel comfortable, not too much is on show and that everything fits well.
Seriously, do they share the same marketing team as City Chic? What the fuck.
Kath, over at Fat Heffalump did a great, point-by-point break down of the issues wrong with this. It’s much more concise than what I would write, not to mention more calm. I’ll try and breathe through my red-eyed rage at this to discuss what is wrong with making this type of statement.
Calling women, girls? No. I won’t be infantilised.
Dressing immodestly and comparing men to pigs? Well, what exactly is “immodest”? Who gets to choose that? What is a “real man”? What about women who aren’t interested in men at all? Can they dress immodestly without these rules being forced on them?
The notion of “class” is, in itself, classist. What is class? Do those with more money get to decide what it is?
“Not too much is on show and everything fits well” – OK, but there are a lot of women who like to show off their bodies. What is wrong with that? A body is just a body.
Plus size women have been told time and time again that they must cover themselves up. Plus size women with larger breasts have been railed at for being indecent when they’re just wearing t-shirts for god’s sake. What exactly are they supposed to wear, then, to not “offend” the public’s eyes? And, oh, of course, not to unduly tempt those wayward man pigs because they’re just animals after all and can’t control themselves. Better get to rolling in the muck then.
First off, they didn’t make the e-card, so that’s not their fault.
Second, I didn’t have a problem with it. I thought it was right and agreed with it.
And if you get annoyed at an e-card calling you a girl and some males pigs then you need to think about why you’re wasting your time being annoyed. There are bigger things to be pissed about in this world than an e-card.
First off, they used it, so therefore they agree with it, so I disagree that it isn’t “their fault.”
Second, you’re allowed to not have a problem with it and you’re entitled to your opinion.
And, lastly, you are allowed to care about more than one thing in the world, regardless of how “trivial” it appears to be. We have the capacity for that.
Hi Sonya,
I just wanted to jump in and say I agree on the point that we’re all allowed to pick our own battles and point out things that make us uncomfortable or angry, even if it’s not exactly a ‘token world issue’. I get very similar flack for my views because apparently you can’t care about human AND animal rights, as surely one must fall to the wayside if we’re considering such ‘trivial’ things.
I wouldn’t consider your feelings about the sentiment My Size expressed to be trivial when looked at through the lens of all the shit society heaps on (especially plus-sized) women.
Thanks for pointing this out and voicing your thoughts.
I agree. Companies that post things like this under the guise of promoting female body confidence for all styles, shapes and sizes need to be called out when they are (to borrow from a certain meme) ‘DOING IT WRONG’. Apologies if that’s not a noble enough cause for “Lady Jewels Diva”. 🙂
Nice rant – I appreciate the issues you have with these campaigns. The value judgement on women and their appearance and behaviour is crap and on the surface seems like something not worth being worried about. But (as I am sure you know) it ties into other rape culture and sexist crap that then becomes women’s fault.
Also it’s not about the creation of the ecard, but the promotion of it as a valid and legitimate message to be promoting to women about their clothing and body. Not to mention, that value judgement of who gets to be a real man, and lumping a whole bunch of other ‘not real’ men into the category where they supposedly can’t control themselves. It’s playing into some horrible misogynistic and rape culture crap and I’m very glad that Sonya’s highlighted it here.
Lastly, judging someone because they’re drawing attention to an issue as not taking ‘real issues’ more seriously is missing the point that all the issues are serious and reinforce one another. They’re not a separate series of battles, they’re interconnected and as such, looking at any issue is a contribution to the other issues and vice versa.
Thanks for the link love and praise Sonya!
I have noticed that MySize are very quiet on their facebook page at the moment. They’re keeping it to the stock and sales, no other stuff. Maybe someone is finally thinking about what they are broadcasting through social media?
I would MUCH rather they play it safe than attempt to be quirky and fun by letting through the creepy misogynistic stuff!
Seems like they just outsource their social media to someone who has no idea about the kind of audience they’re meant to be communicating with. What a shame.