Avon recently apologized and pulled its ad for an anti-cellulite campaign. The apology and decision to pull the ad comes after they received some backlash for the campaign. The brand started out to receive the backlash after Jameela Jamil who stars in the
About the Avon Campaign
The Avon campaign appeared in a brochure for its North American customers. The campaign was created to promote the brands “Smooth Moves Naked Proof” anti-cellulite cream. A cream created to help get rid of cellulite. The ads featured in a brochure received backlash because people believed that the brand was exploiting people’s insecurities. They were accused of manipulating people by presenting cellulite as a defect instead of a normal body feature. According to stats, cellulite is something 80-90% of women will experience in their lifetime. They were also accused of body shaming women for something that they can’t control.
Jameela Jamil Responds to the Campaign
One of the ads read Dimples are cute on your face, not on your thighs.” Actress Jameela Jamil went on Twitter to call out the brand. Jameela Jamil sent out a series of tweets calling out the campaign’s message. She accused Avon of shaming women about “age, gravity and cellulite”. Jameela Jamil sent out more tweets expressing her frustration with the ads. She called on Avon to pull down the ads and any related ads with similar messaging. Her tweets were retweeted over 11,000 times. People had split opinions about the ad, some people agreed Jameela Jamil. While others felt that the other people were being “oversensitive”.
Every body is beautiful, unless they have any “flaws” I guess. What a gross abuse of the body positive movement. I want you all to look out for this constant manipulation. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. It’s everywhere. You are constantly being manipulated to self hate. pic.twitter.com/cUnV8N3lD8
— Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamil) January 19, 2019
And yet EVERYONE has dimples on their thighs, I do, you do, and the CLOWNS at @Avon_UK certainly do. Stop shaming women about age, gravity and cellulite. They’re inevitable, completely normal things. To make us fear them and try to “fix”them, is to literally set us up for failure pic.twitter.com/78kqu3nHeE
— Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamil) January 19, 2019
Avon Responds to Backlash from Jameela Jamil and Other Consumers
Initially, Jameela Jamil’s tweets were directed at Avon’s UK arm, the UK arm responded saying it would look into the matter further. It was later revealed that it was the cosmetic brand’s USA arm that was responsible for the marketing material. Avon’s official Twitter account for the USA arm eventually responded to the actress’s tweet. They stated that they had intended the ads to be light-hearted and fun, and they realized they had missed the mark.
Avon then apologized and assured customers that it will be pulling the campaign. In a statement, the brand stated that it strives to “celebrate women and their power. We are working diligently to remove this messaging from our marketing.” The Good Place actress has responded to Avon’s apology, stating it is progress.
We hear you and we apologize. We messed up on our Smooth Moves Naked Proof messaging. We want to let you know that we are working diligently to remove this messaging from our marketing materials moving forward. We’re on it. We love our community of women. pic.twitter.com/lUyK3EyfAy
— Avon (@AvonInsider) January 20, 2019
THIS RIGHT HERE IS PROGRESS!!!! Thank you @AvonInsider for listening to us. https://t.co/AJsB4cGqZT
— Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamil) January 19, 2019
Jameela Jamil and Body Positivity
Jameela Jamil has been very vocal about promoting body positivity and is an advocate for female empowerment. She has openly called out fellow celebrities in the past for supporting and endorsing poor body imaging. Jamil called out Kim Kardashian and Cardi B for endorsing lollipop suppressing foods and laxatives respectively. She also runs an Instagram account and community project whose mission is to help people “feel valuable and see how amazing we are beyond the flesh in our bones.”
