Zara Criticism Models Love Your Curves Ad Campaign

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Zara has come under fire for using thin and essentially curves-free models in an in-store advertisement telling women to "love their curves". The aim of the ads, which have been seen in stores since February, might be to promote the retailer's "Body Curve Jeans," as AdWeek pointed out. And, with a slogan like that, the imagery is presumably meant to celebrate body positivity, too. And while that's a worthwhile goal we can certainly get behind, the execution seriously falls short in this particular case. And the contradiction between the image used and the intended message wasn't lost on customers.

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You have got to be shitting me, Zara. pic.twitter.com/tiOsJv5AVy
— Muireann O'Connell (@MuireannO_C) February 28, 2017

The ad went viral earlier this week when Muireann O’Connell, an Irish radio personality, shared a photo on Twitter and garnered nearly 8,000 retweets and over 15,000 likes within less than 24 hours.

“You have got to be shitting me, Zara,” she tweeted initially. O'Connell later clarified that the models themselves aren’t to blame. “Can I just say, this has nothing to with the models. It's the marketeers that have distorted their image & fucked up." Unsurprisingly, others followed suit by condemning the ad on social media – often in amusing ways, as the Internet does.

Love your curves - @ZARA pic.twitter.com/4ERvTka2sO
— Bert Swattermain (@BertSwattermain) February 28, 2017

This is the visual equivalent of saying "All Curves Matter" https://t.co/xwP60Z7Cfv
— Merci Marcoup (@MarcositoW) February 28, 2017

I assume Zara is doing irony. pic.twitter.com/8BAomw5Yy8
— Just John (@emptyjamjar) February 28, 2017

@MuireannO_C @Hanecdote looking for them curves like pic.twitter.com/RupX3AjtqA
— Adi Peltz (@adi_peltz) February 28, 2017

Others took the opportunity to make a serious point about the societal pressures on women regarding weight and thinness, which are at odds with messaging that tells us to love one's own size and body type (especially when that urging is coming from a fashion retailer).

All bodies are equally beautiful but... curves where? This is false advertising and could lead to bad self image on young girls c'mon @ZARA https://t.co/ebV8LwITRj
— rico (@erikson0302) March 1, 2017

*sigh* this is the sort of thing that makes my 15 year old, size 8 daughter think she's fat. https://t.co/shnA2zhEIi
— Mrs VB (@MrsVB) February 28, 2017

More than ever we need to protect the self esteem of young girls. This is how not to do it. https://t.co/KwBwDkJ7hJ
— Mo Al-Borno (@Berreli) February 28, 2017

While I appreciate that smaller women can be curvy, the impact this is going to have on young girls is not going to be positive. https://t.co/LOTCTLMKe6
— Deborah Stuttard (@TheGreedyGirl) February 28, 2017

This isn’t the first time the Spanish fast fashion chain has been embroiled in scandal, and the situations really run the gamut. There was that blue and white striped shirt design in 2014 that bore an eerie resemblance to a concentration camp uniform. Over the past few years, we've seen a number of accusations that the brand ripped off the work of designers (which seems to happen a whole lot more often than it should, not that it should be happening at all). Oh, and remember when a woman recently sued the retailer after she found a dead mouse sewn into her dress. Refinery29 has reached out to Zara for comment, and will update this story when we hear back.