H&M Admits Models Have Been "Too Skinny" and Voes to Change
H&M's CEO Karl-Johan Persson gave an interview today with the free daily newspaper, the Metro, where he admitted that models in H&M's ad campaigns have been overly thin in the past. "Some of our models have been too skinny. That's not OK," he told the Metro.
He went on to admit that the sheer size and influence of H&M gives the company a lot of responsibility in the industry.
"We have a huge responsibility here. We're a large company, many people see us, and we advertise a lot... I believe that the models in our advertising should look sound and healthy. There are models who are too thin or obviously underweight, but there are also those who're just thin, and they're the ones we should keep working with, as long as they look sound and healthy," he said.
He went on to point out that their recent campaign with Beyoncé is an example of the healthy body image H&M is striving for. "We want to show diversity in our advertising and not give people the impression that girls have to look a particular way. By and large, I think we've succeeded: we've many different kinds of models from different ethnic backgrounds. In our last campaign we had a somewhat more buxom model, and now we're using Beyoncé who's a bit curvier as well."
Presson says at the end of the day, it's not just about the botton line. "It's not just about maximizing profit; you have to do it in a fair way, too," he says. "I want to feel proud today and when I leave H&M and look back at what we've done. I want to feel that we were the just company regarding our social responsibilities: caring about the environment, choice of models, social issues."
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