Myer customers have vented their fury at the “toxic” body representation in the company’s latest underwear campaign, claiming a gender double-standard is at play.
Reddit users have fumed over pics on Myer’s website showing three diverse female models, but no less than Insta-perfect men.
The women pictured in the campaign were a variety of ages, body shapes, and ethnicities but, as many noticed, the men, were young and “jacked”.
“As a woman, I can say it’s really great to see a realistic/representative range of body types for women appearing in catalogues,” said one user.
“But it really pisses me off not to see the same for men. I have a teenage son, and I don’t want him growing up feeling pressured by unrealistic body standards.
“Not every man grows up looking like a jacked action figure – sure, some do, but depicting this body type as the only one to aspire to is toxic as f**k.”
The same user, however, also pointed out that the models used to advertise the products below the three women did not appear at first glance to be as diverse as portrayed above.
“If you scroll down through their lingerie section, their product models are actually 99% ultra-attractive, white, thin women,” she wrote.
“So Myer is still perpetuating ridiculous beauty standards for women, as well as for men. There are plenty of other companies out there doing better on this issue.”
Another Reddit user vented on the unattainability of the ideal physique the company presented to male customers.
“To have the bodies of these men, you really need to dedicate yourself to a certain lifestyle focused on diet, weight training etc,” they said.
“Some do it because they enjoy those activities and the look they get, but for most men, it’s just unrealistic to get to that level and maintain it, plus have a full time job, plus a family.”
Reddit users did not all, however, agree on whether showing overweight models was the solution.
“I think this has been done to death, but there are also valid arguments against using unhealthy body types in advertising,” said one commenter.
“I don’t want my son to grow up feeling that it is okay to have a beer belly.”
Another asked if “we want to normalise obesity?”
“Surely there’s a middle ground where models are healthy but don’t have to be super long legged or in the men’s case work out heaps starved themselves for two days before the shoot,” they said.
A spokesperson for Myer told The Daily Mail that diversity is important to the company.
“Myer takes diversity seriously and has a proud record of embracing and showing the diversity of the Australian community in our advertising – this includes all body types, ages, heights, and backgrounds,” they said.
“In our latest campaign we have a diverse range of models across men’s and women’s fashion and you will see the diversity of the models used as this campaign rolls out.”
The Daily Mail also wrote that Myer had “shared two pictures to be rolled out at some point during the three-week campaign which show men without super-lean bodies.”
Myer appear to have changed the images since the issue was made public.
PerthNow has contacted Myer for further comment.
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