When a light grey sweatshirt appeared on online shopping site Revolve on Wednesday, it was supposed to start a conversation.
And it did. Just not the one it intended to.
In less than 24 hours, images of the controversial item of clothing released to raise money for girls’ education were trending online for being fat-phobic, inappropriate and deeply offensive. So much so, the jumper has since been removed from the site and can no longer be purchased.
All because of its slogan:
“Being fat is not beautiful, it’s an excuse.”
Despite the company's sincere apology, many have also pointed out the jumper, which was meant to highlight the fat-shaming women endure online, was only made in sizes up to an XL.
Since the jumper was removed from Revolve, Dunham has made a statement of her own distancing herself from Revolve and the surrounding backlash.
"Without consulting me or any of the women involved, @revolve presented the sweatshirts on thin white women, never thinking about the fact that difference and individuality is what gets you punished on the Internet, or that lack of diversity in representation is a huge part of the problem (in fact, the problem itself.)," she posted on Instagram.
"As a result, I cannot support this collaboration or lend my name to it in any way. This doesn’t take away from my love or respect for what Pia has done with LPA, but I am deeply disappointed in @revolve’s handling of a sensitive topic and a collaboration rooted in reclaiming the words of internet trolls to celebrate the beauty in diversity and bodies and experiences that aren’t the industry norm." (Read her full statement below.)
The writer and director also said she plans to make a contribution to the Girls Write Now, as does LPA. In their own statement, Revolve has pledged to donate $20,000 to the charity.
Unfortunately, context is what killed this well-intended but poorly-executed initiative.
And once you've lost it, it's really hard to get back.
Do you think this jumper could have ever avoided becoming a social media scandal?
Top Comments
As a “fat” woman I find this absolutely disgusting. And I don’t know how it could have been taken any other way. Even Paloma who relayed this story was shocked so clearly the way the campaign was going to be promoted was not told to them entirely- nobody would support this without any context. I didn’t even notice the “as told to” line under and even if I had, it doesn’t explain anything. I’m worried why anyone would pay $295 dollars on this....
Do they really think people are going to look closely enough to see the “as told to” part underneath? Complete cock up from start to finish.
I can see why people would be upset about a thin model wearing that particular message though, it looks quite mean. In context, knowing the story behind the messages, I get what they were going for. But if you just saw a person in the street walking past you with “being fat is not beautiful, it’s an excuse” written on their shirt - no context - it would be jarring. Not sure they’ve thought the whole thing through.
It looks mean because they are only seeing what they want, instead of the whole picture.
Surely reading the quote should make you want to read the reference too.
The context is right there on the shirt.
Well, kind of. If you walk past someone in the street and see that quote, the tiny “as told to” bit underneath is not as obvious- I didn’t notice it at first, until it was mentioned in the article and I went back and looked twice.
Even assuming your squinting abilities are good enough to be able to read the "as said to" part, what context does that really provide? It tells us that someone said it to someone else (who I've never heard of, incidentally). It doesn't tell me why they said it or that the jumper isn't endorsing the message. It's just confusing.