Featuring Megan Barton Hanson and Tess Holliday among others, the campaign aims to help people feel good about their bodies
The body positivity revolution is upon us. From plus-size mannequins to campaigns which put body hair front and centre, increasingly, we are seeing a change in the way brands are talking about and showcasing the body, as messages of positivity and acceptance are making their way to the forefront of the fashion and beauty industries.
One brand leading this charge is Isle of Paradise. Debuting last year with a campaign featuring un-retouched images of plus size model Carla Trujillo, the tanning brand is now back with a new, even bigger, campaign.
Launched today, “Get Body Posi” is a global commitment to making body acceptance top of the beauty industry agenda. The campaign centres around a handbook which aims to guide readers through four key principles: acceptance, banishing comparison, finding what happy means to you and bringing self-love every day.
“The Isle of Paradise mission is not only to tackle the body confidence issue head on but to provide consumers with a solution that will encourage them to take the all-important first step to achieving body acceptance,” says brand founder Jules Von Hep. In creating the handbook, Von Hep drew on his own journey and life experiences, including struggles with eating disorders and self-harm, as well as a terrible homophobic attack at a night club which left him, he writes in the handbook, feeling “unworthy of living.”
To launch the handbook, not only has the brand pledged £25,000 to Mind Charity to help others on their path to mental wellness and body acceptance, but it has also released a campaign featuring a cast including Love Island’s Megan Barton-Hanson and Tess Holliday.
“Everyone struggles with some aspect of themselves. I was that geeky teen and I didn’t like much about myself. I’ve been working to change that and accept myself,” says Barton Hanson. “Learning to focus and rock your own vibe is the most liberating thing any one of us can do. This is what this campaign is about and I am committed to help change the way we view beauty as a society.”
After appearing on Love Island, Megan faced backlash over her looks and the surgical procedures she had undergone. “There’s so much pressure on women to look a certain way,” Megan told Dazed Beauty earlier this year. “You’re getting bullied for how you look. Then you get all these companies running adverts saying, ‘You can get surgery on finance if you want to’ and ‘Get your new body today’. Then when you do it, you’re penalised for being fake or plastic, criticised for not loving yourself and the skin that you’re in.”
Since leaving the villa last year, Megan has dedicated her platform to bringing awareness to feminist issues and campaigned rigorously against cyber bullying, particularly in the context of slut-shaming. She also regularly speaks out about mental health and encourages her audience to believe in themselves and be proud of their choices.
The Get Body Posi handbook is available to download for free from the Isle of Paradise website.
