A plus-size model is being cruelly mocked after he image was used to promote Gillette Venus razors on Twitter — but she’s taking the high road.
On April 3, Gillette urged followers to ‘go out there and slay the day,’ posting a photo of plus-size model Anna O’Brien, 34, smiling in a bikini on the beach.
But the brand’s body-positive and inclusive message was lost on many Twitter users, who attacked Gillette for promoting obesity and taunted Anna with cruel jokes and remarks about her weight.
Power: On April 3, Gillette urged followers to ‘go out there and slay the day,’ posting a photo of plus-size model Anna O’Brien, 34, smiling in a bikini on the beach
Nasty: Hundreds of commenters chimed in with cruel, taunting replies
If you have nothing nice to day… People left rude jokes about the model’s size and weight
Gillette’s tweet earned 11,000 likes and plenty of supporting comments, but the critics rose to the top.
‘Imagine how many razors she goes thru,’ wrote one.
‘I love that Gillette is saving the whale. @peta should get involved with this campaign,’ snarked another.
‘April Fools day was on Monday,’ wrote media analyst Mark Dice.
Nasty replies filled the comments, with people leaving memes and GIFs mocking Anna for her size.
A few commenters were less outright hostile and zeroed in on what they said was a bad message about health.
‘Please stop. Promoting this is dangerous. Being unhealthy is not a good thing,’ wrote one.
‘Why would you show younger girls a picture like this? Another reason not to purchase your products!’ wrote another.
Manners: Quite a few people felt compelled to make nasty comments at the woman’s expense
From a good place? Some claimed to be concerned about the ‘dangerous’ health standards the photo promotes
Against it: Others mocked the concept of ‘body positivity’
Tug-of-war: The jokes piled up in the comments even as thousands of people liked the image
How it works: This woman posted a lecture about disease and asked, ‘Why would you show younger girls a picture like this?’
The volume of replies grew so big that the brand finally chimed in to respond, hitting back at critics with a positive, accepting message.
‘Venus is committed to representing beautiful women of all shapes, sizes, and skin types because ALL types of beautiful skin deserve to be shown, the account tweeted.
‘We love Anna because she lives out loud and loves her skin no matter how the “rules” say she should display it.’
By then, other commenters had chimed in too, shaming critics for being cruel.
‘I can’t believe the replies to this tweet. I mean I can because people are a**holes but these comments are ridiculous. Women of all sizes shave. Women of all sizes deserve to exist in a joyous state without you dickheads lecturing them on what you deem healthy. F*** off,’ wrote one.
‘Crazy how so many of you in this thread are her doctor! She has a right to exist in her body at any goddamn stage and she shouldn’t have to hide it until you’re comfortable with it. Unbelievable the level of cruelty in this thread,’ wrote another.
Others praised the model as ‘beautiful’ and ‘cute,’ and quite a few wrote that they were fans of her swimsuit.
Hitting back: ‘Venus is committed to representing beautiful women of all shapes, sizes, and skin types because all types of beautiful skin deserve to be shown,’ Gillette responded
Fans: Several people praised the model and the brand for being inclusive
What do you know? Others called out the ‘experts’ who lectured about the model’s health
Compliments: ‘She looks good!’ wrote one woman. ‘Braver than me’
Praise: Those who approved called the ad ‘beautiful’ and ‘cute’
Supportive: One person wrote, ‘She seems so happy and adorable and I wanna be her friend! Also that bathing suit is so cute on her!’
‘This picture is so cute!! She seems so happy and adorable and I wanna be her friend! Also that bathing suit is so cute on her!!!’ wrote one.
‘I love her energy!! Thank you for showing that ALL kinds of people deserve to enjoy the sand and the waves and the sunshine!’ wrote another.
For her part, Anna appears to be used to people taunting her, but continues to post pictures on Instagram.
‘So this weekend I went viral yet again because some random people didn’t like my body and had nothing better to do than to make sure everyone knew it,’ she wrote on Monday.
‘Normally, this would have stressed me out to no end, and I’d find myself refreshing all the things as the drama unfolded while simultaneously being distraught by the uncomfortable uncertainty these situations can create.
‘However, this weekend was different. Ironically, for most of this mess I had no clue it was actually going on. I was too busy meeting awesome people, learning about the future, filming shenanigans, and flipping people over my back.’
She has spoken out before about body positivity.
When she initially posted the beach photo, as part of a partnership with ModCloth back in January, she wrote: ‘Don’t wait for anyone else’s permission to live and experience all you can in your body.
Pro: Plus-size model Anna has long been a body-positivity advocate
Linking up: She has collaborated with several other brands, including ModCloth and Torrid
Taking a stand: After the Gillette tweet went viral, Anna took to Instagram to speak out about the attacks that she faced from ‘random people who don’t like my body’
‘We don’t remember the number on our jeans of the shape of our hips and stomach on a beach. We remember the sand between our toes. We remember running into the waves. We remember how cold the water was.
‘We remember how sand got everywhere. We remember how we laughed and forgot for an instant everything we should be. We just were. Joy comes from the experience, not from the size of the body we live it in.’
Later, she added: ‘Life is simply too short to waste anytime trying to be anything other than who you are.’
Anna has dealt with quite a bit of commentary about her body. Last summer, she did a photoshoot in a bikini in Times Square, and was horrified by the ‘graphic’ and ‘sick’ comments men made.
‘Yesterday I did the scariest thing I have done in my 30+ years…’ she wrote. ‘I stood in Times Square in a bikini and posed for a photo shoot. In the beginning I felt really overwhelmed. Not because I was mocked, but because I was so extremely sexualized by a few men who were watching.’
She said the behavior of the male passersby was all the more shocking because she was standing next to ‘two nearly nude women covered only with body paint’ who seemed to receive none of the crude ‘yelling and screaming’ that she did.
‘But to me, a plus woman in a swimsuit, the things that were said were so graphic it made me sick to my stomach,’ she wrote. ‘One man said he felt justified in saying what he did because “plus women don’t know they’re ****able.”’
Good for her: She said she would normally be stressed out about it but she was too busy having fun this weekend
Shocking: Last year, Anna shared her horror over the ‘sick’ sexual comments made about her body while she posed in a bikini in Times Square
‘Scary’: She said she was prepared for some people to ‘mock’ her, but admitted that the crude sexual things people said to her ‘made me sick to my stomach’
One man claimed he wanted to ‘suck on them tasty toes,’ while another told her to, ‘Twerk for the camera baby, show them how that a** clap.’
‘I was prepared to be pointed at, shamed, and called fat. I didn’t expect to be fetishized,’ she wrote in an essay for Cosmopolitan.
Another man grabbed her by the wrist and attempted to justify his harassment by claiming he was simply ‘showing love for a BBW [big beautiful woman]’ and telling her to ‘show off for her fans.’
The controversial Gillette tweet comes three months after the brand came under fire over a #MeToo-inspired ad that aimed to put an end to ‘toxic masculinity’ by calling out men for sexist, misogynistic behavior.
Within hours of debuting in January, the ad was slammed by Gillette customers, mostly men, who threatened to boycott the brand because of the ad.
‘So we just started 2019, and already a company has started pushing sexism towards Men… @Gillette have no become a Leftist Bigot Company that insulted their own user base by calling them “Sexists,”‘ one person tweeted. ‘Well done, Giellette. #GetWokeGoBroke.’
Ironically, some took issue with the fact that the shaving brand’s ad was directed by a ‘feminist’ woman.
‘A shaving ad written by pink-haired feminist scolds is about as effective as a tampon ad written by middle aged men,’ wrote Canadian conservative media personality Ezra Levant.
The commercial highlighted the different ways the mistreatment of women has been normalized over the years, and featured a clip of actor Terry Crews, a victim of sexual assault, who was heard saying: ‘Men need to hold other men accountable.’