Our world-famous lingerie company is under attack again.
Some people are upset about a Victoria’s Secret ad that depicts a line of thin underwear models
in bras and panties beneath the slogan “The Perfect ‘Body.’ ”
(Body is the name of the lingerie line that the ad is pushing, but surely the double
meaning is intentional.)
A petition originating in Britain and signed by thousands of people accuses the company of “body
shaming.”
“This marketing campaign is harmful,” the petition says. “It fails to celebrate the amazing
diversity of women’s bodies by choosing to call only one body type ‘perfect.’ ”
A competing lingerie company responded by lining up women of many sizes, to reinforce the point
that people come in all shapes and sizes.
When you add such a protest to the ongoing backlash against the Abercrombie Fitch
preference for tanned, toned, half-naked physiques, the total makes two central Ohio companies
identified with body-mass-index bias.
So here is a question: Does that make central Ohio the capital of Unrealistic Beauty
Standards?
A case could be made, but I see it thoroughly confusing outsiders, who more likely identify the
area as the home of 300-pound offensive linemen, Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and a generally
well-nourished population.
After all, on lists of the “fattest cities,” we never emerge on the slender end. A Gallup Poll
this year ranked Columbus in the top 10 for obesity among large metropolitan areas.
(A lot of obesity rankings exist. Columbus looks thinner in some than in others.)
Perhaps the tension between unattainable body type and enthusiastic caloric intake could work in
favor of Victoria’s Secret.
If the British petition proves to be a major headache, the company could always point to the
obesity rankings as evidence that its stick-thin models are having no discernible effect on the
populace at the epicenter of its empire.
Still, I think it’s high time Victoria’s Secret got real and flashed a sense of humor. After
all, we’re talking about nightgowns, not nuclear war.
Perhaps it could rerun the Perfect Body ad but this time have each of the models eating a
Thurmanator, the three-quarter-pound bacon-cheese-mushroom burgers that only the most intrepid
diners dare to order at the Thurman Cafe.
Think of it: Unrealistic Beauty Standard meets Unhealthy Body Mass Index in a union of central
Ohio extremes.
The audience would surely conclude that sanity lies somewhere in the middle.
Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.
jblundo@dispatch.com
@joeblundo
