This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Drexel chapter.
Most body-positive shoppers know (or have at least heard of) American Eagle Outfitters’ in-house lingerie brand, Aerie. Known for pioneering Photoshop-free lingerie ads through their #aerieREAL campaigns featuring gorgeous and diverse models, the brand had commandeered a certain level of respect for bringing the ‘beautiful at any size’ ideals of the body-pos movement into practice in fashion. That is, until April Fools’ Day weekend.
For several weeks leading up to April 1st, Aerie had been publishing commercials indicative of the debut of an #aerieREAL campaign for men, called #aerieMAN. The commercials, like the one below, were admittedly a little bit silly but still many enthusiastic viewers like myself thought it to be a rhetorical concept used by the brand to call attention to the lack of diversity prevalent in men’s modeling. I mean, I have nothing against the sultry stare and sculpted abs of a Calvin Klein model, but that’s not reflective of the diversity of the male customer base that buys clothing and underwear.
When American Eagle Outfitters announced late in the evening of April 1st that the #aerieMAN campaign was not legitimate, but merely a fun way to debut their pledge to no longer retouch men in their American Eagle Outfitters line, the public was not entertained. Many felt that the brand had made a joke out of body positivity for men and highlighted the double standard of how carefully Aerie has acted to legitimize the same issue for women. Ironically, the public outcry has emphasized the one thing the #aerieMAN campaign succeeded at: bringing the need for men’s body positivity front-and-center in the public eye.
Twitter saw a wide range of responses from men and women alike, explaining why men’s body positivity needs to be taken more seriously than the Aerie mock-campaign made it out to be. While the company will certainly need some time to distance itself from the PR nightmare, we’re glad that this important issue is gaining more traction than ever.