Jameela Jamil may not have intended to become the unofficial voice of body positivity, but that’s exactly what she’s become. The Good Place star has been using her platform on Twitter to point out the ways society fails young women, including calling out celebrities who endorse shady diet products.
In her latest mission, Jamil set her sights on Avon to call the company out for an advertisement — which Avon later admitted (to the Huffington Post) appeared in a brochure for North American shoppers — featuring a laughing young woman, with the messaging, “dimples are cute on your face (not on your thighs).
“And yet EVERYONE has dimples on their thighs, I do, you do, and the CLOWNS at Avon UK certainly do,” Jamil fired back. “Stop shaming women about age, gravity and cellulite. They’re inevitable, completely normal things. To make us fear them and try to ‘fix’ them, is to literally set us up for failure.”
“Every body is beautiful, unless they have any ‘flaws’ I guess,” she continued in a follow up tweet. “What a gross abuse of the body positive movement. I want you all to look out for this constant manipulation. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it. It’s everywhere. You are constantly being manipulated to self hate.”
https://twitter.com/jameelajamil/status/1086671811796848641
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Shortly after her tweets began picking up traction, Avon was forced to respond and tried to distance themselves from the campaign, but Jamil was not having it.
https://twitter.com/jameelajamil/status/1086715230862770176
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Eventually, Avon relented and agreed to pull the campaign altogether. “Hi Jameela, we intended this to be light hearted and fun, but we realize we missed the mark,” the company stated on Twitter. “We’ve removed this messaging from all marketing materials. We support our community in loving their bodies and feeling confident in their own skin.”
Hi Jameela, we intended this to be light hearted and fun, but we realize we missed the mark. We’ve removed this messaging from all marketing materials. We support our community in loving their bodies and feeling confident in their own skin.
— Avon USA (@AvonInsider) January 19, 2019
Hi Jameela, we completely understand where you’re coming from. We realize that we missed the mark with this messaging. We have removed this messaging from all future marketing materials. We fully support our community in loving their bodies and feel confident in their own skin.
— Avon USA (@AvonInsider) January 19, 2019
Giving credit where credit is due, Jamil thanked Avon for agreeing to pull the campaign, but warned them that she would be keeping her eyes on them — literally!
https://twitter.com/jameelajamil/status/1086748333966712832
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Avon UK may seem like a small step, but it would appear that Jamil is only getting started. Personally taking on the entire beauty industry may seem like a David vs. Goliath fight, but she’s here for it.