Stop Perpetuating Body-Image Insecurity in Adolescent Girls

According to a report on body image composed by Beauty Schools Directory - an informative online resource consisting of beauty industry experts:

• 67.5% of middle school girls desired to be thinner
• 60.6% reported weight loss attempts
• And only 24% of women in the US felt comfortable in their own bodies.

Media and the fashion industry play a large role in shaping the unrealistic ideals that lead these young girls and women to feel insecure with their bodies. Brandy Melville is a particular clothing brand that exacerbates this issue. Our goal is to persuade Brandy Melville to embrace the global change in mindset that fashion and retail brands, such as American Eagle Outfitters, Vineyard Vines, and Anthropologie have joined: practicing inclusivity and diversity in their sizes and models and encompassing the true range of shapes and sizes in their ads and product images. Additionally, we want their existing sizes to reflect the true size, and not fit even smaller than the size would for any other brand. Every signature is a step closer to making this change happen! 


To the CEO of Brandy Melville, Bob John,

We are concerned about the negative impact your company currently has on the self-image of adolescent girls. Your company, Brandy Melville, continues to exclude a significantly large portion of adolescent and teen girls from its clothing on the basis of size, choosing to ignore countless criticisms and complaints addressing the issue. You have chosen to prioritize your brand image over the wellbeing of your customers by limiting your clothing sizes to small and extra small, consequently causing many adolescent and teen girls to experience insecurity with their body image and even causing some to attempt losing weight in order to fit into your clothing. To ward off large-scale lashback, you decided to sprinkle in a “one size” option that is available for a sparse and random selection of clothing. This “one size” has failed the one size fits all test conducted by many independent organizations and influencers. In addition to not resolving the pre-existing issue at hand, by labeling girls who wear a size larger than small as the “other” girls is clearly emphasizing Brandy Melville’s propensity to constrict the bounds of the female physique to reflect their definition of “normal”. These practices run high risks of aggravating mental illnesses, such as eating disorders, and poor body image. With the knowledge that perception of beauty is a primarily learned trait, Brandy Melville needs to implement many crucial changes in its culture and company policy. We demand these improvements:

• Publicly apologize for the negative impact your brand’s marketing has on customers, particularly since a considerable proportion is made of adolescents
• Practice sincere inclusivity and diversity in your clothing sizes and models
• Encompass the true range of shapes and sizes in Brandy Melville ads and product images
• Ensure existing sizes reflect the true size they represent, and not fit even smaller than the size would for any other brand
• Do not ignore criticism! Work towards finding solutions and being transparent.

Sincerely,
The Undersigned

           Additional Information
While researching Brandy Melville, in order to select the individual(s) to address at our target company, we uncovered it is known for intentionally obscuring their executive board members’ and decision makers’ information as well as details related to their company as a defense mechanism against backlash they have received in the past. They have even disabled comments on their Instagram page for the same reason. Therefore, we have an unverified name of who we believe to be Brandy Melville’s CEO based on LinkedIn, Bob John, who we will directly address in our campaign.

Thank you for being a part of this change.