Beauty in the Hands of the Networks?

As much as I want this blog to be about the best in advertising and public relations, there are times that call for me to comment on certain aspects of this industry that can be extremely frustrating, or even angering. The recent Lane Bryant commercial controversy is just one of these times; however, it is not the company or its advertisements that are drawing fire from people like me, but how the two have been received by major television networks.

Recently, Lane Bryant representatives took to the company's blog to point out a “plus size” double standard going on in network television. According to the company, both ABC and Fox nixed their new commercial for their lingerie line Cacique, which features a full-figured model for the plus size retailer. Allegedly, ABC refused to show the commercial during “Dancing with the Stars” until the final moments of the show, and Fox demanded that it be re-edited three times before allowing it to air during American Idol, again restricting it until the end of the broadcast. While the company admitted that the ad was indeed “sexy (but not salacious)”, they pointed out that these networks frequently show Victoria’s Secret ads for lingerie during the same time slots. 

In the interest of full disclosure, ABC and Fox deny these allegations, claiming that the only restrictions made on the commercial were that it be aired during the last ten minutes of the shows, in order to keep it from airing it during a “family hour”, and thus avoiding complaints of the Standards & Practices Department of the network. Fox will now air the spot next week on April 28.

As much as I hate consumer outrage over mild transgressions, I find that the anger is not misplaced in this instance. I myself am not plus-sized, but I am also not the size of a Victoria Secret model and I know how influential the media can be on a woman’s body image. Therefore, I find it appalling that networks should set such a double standard when it comes to women’s beauty. Not all women are a size 2, and brands such as Lane Bryant who give women the confidence to show off their body at any size should be commended. However, instead of doing this, these two major television networks chose to perpetuate the stigma of plus-sized women and continue to make them feel like they are not worthy of the same things that skinny models are. I am sure that some will think I am overreacting, but with media power constantly growing, our sense of self and body image is becoming lower day after day.

Lane Bryant has seemed to adopt the same view, and has thus turned what could have been a disaster into a public relations triumph. Their sense of indignation on their blog definitely makes their plus-sized target consumers feel more connected to them as a brand; as they have surely felt the same kind of exclusion in real life as Lane Bryant now feels by major television networks. The end of their blog even encourages readers to “PICK ONE: Team Cacique or Team Network. Tell us how you feel and pass this along to everyone who shares the view that beauty is in the eye of the beholder not the hands of a television network.”

Regardless of if you wear lingerie or not, I think Team Cacique is the right team to be on.