Plus-size fashion brand transforms Protein World's 'Beach Body Ready' advert into body positivity campaign

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A plus-size fashion brand has unveiled a “Beach Body Ready” campaign to champion women of all sizes in the lead up to summer.

The launch comes three years after the Protein World campaign of the same name made headlines for perpetuating harmful body image.

While more people are becoming engaged in conversations about body positivity and a greater number of plus-size models are being featured in mainstream fashion campaigns, clothing retailer navabi believes that more needs to be done to make the fashion industry more inclusive.

“We felt like not enough has changed since the original Protein World ad in 2015,” Bethany Rutter, social editor at navabi, told The Independent.

“It’s been three years and things should have changed more than they have, so we wanted to take an opportunity to change them.

“We wanted to say, without hesitation, that there shouldn’t be a black cloud hanging over your summer because you think you don’t have the right kind of body.

“We wanted to show people bodies they don’t see every day.”

The imagery for the campaign is clearly reminiscent of the Protein World advert that caused an uproar, described by critics as “sexist” and “offensive”.

The original campaign displayed a slender model wearing a yellow bikini with the words “Are you beach body ready?” written on top of a yellow background.

The new billboard released by navabi features three body positive influencers with the response: “We’re beach body ready. Three years on: a little reminder,” emphatically written on top of the same yellow colour scheme.

The billboard will appear on London’s West End this week in addition to online on a brand new website dedicated to the cause.

Rutter is one of the models featured in the campaign, in addition to Lauren Tallulah Smeets, otherwise known as Curvy Roamer, and Stephanie Yeboah, also known as NerdAboutTown.

“This campaign was a way of giving insecurities the middle finger and shunning the original Protein World campaign - why should women feel they need to look a certain way to wear a bikini or swimwear?” said Smeets.

Yeboah concurred, stating: “The original Protein World campaign was exclusionary and pushed the ideology that in order to be ‘seen’ on the beach, you had to lose weight and conform to society’s standards of beauty first.

“The truth is that every body is a beach body and that is why I’m so happy to be a part of this navabi campaign.”

People have been praising the campaign on social media, with one person saying: “I love this. Makes me feel so much less anxious about my own ‘flaws.’”

Another supporter commented: “You all look incredible! I absolutely love this shot. The exuberance, the joy, the beauty."