Aerie basically infuriated the internet recently when they released #AerieMan campaign supporting male body positivity—Only to reveal that the videos promoting the campaign, which featured men of all body types wearing the underwear and the slogan “The real you is sexy,” were all part of a very committed April Fools’ hoax.
In a statement, the brand wrote that the campaign was “all in good fun to parody the #AerieReal campaign by Aerie, a leader in body-positive marketing,” but also explained that the company really does plan to stop retouching male models by the 2016 holiday season.
Many people were upset at the joke because it actually had the potential to be a good idea, but instead mocked the idea of men wanting to be more body-positive—including one of the models involved in the project. According to Kelvin Davis, one of the men who modeled the underwear for the fake campaign, the whole thing was real as far as he was concerned.
“We were asked questions about male body image and those were our responses,” he told BuzzFeed, explaining that he’s gotten flack from the body positivity movement for participating in the campaign. “Everything I said was from a heartfelt place we all can relate.”
“I represented male body positivity before the #AerieMan campaign. I represent male body positivity after the #AerieMan campaign. Simple as that,” he added.
American Eagle has yet to respond to Davis’s comments.