Fashion brand Oh Polly received a huge backlash after it launched a separate Instagram account to promote its plus-size clothing.
Called ‘Oh Polly Inclusive’, the page came with the confusing tagline, ‘Zero% tolerance, 100% inclusive’, but has now been closed.
What in the segregation is this. What makes these women not suitable for your main page @ohpolly ? Ohpollyinclusive?? Who approved this? pic.twitter.com/2HXujEE9j9
— Alissa Ashley (@alissa_ashleyy) May 13, 2019
The account went viral when YouTuber Alissa Ashley tweeted about it to her 275,000 followers, asking the brand: ‘What makes these women not suitable for your main page? Who approved this?’
“Imagine calling yourselves inclusive and not wanting to post women that don’t fit your ‘aesthetic’ on your brand page” she said in an another.
The tweet has had nearly 20,000 likes and hundreds of comments, the vast majority agreeing with Ashley.
“I don’t understand why they felt the need to create a whole separate page. If you’re that ‘woke’ on inclusivity, post it on the main page!” replied Shaquelle Raevon.
all of the women on that page are so beautiful. i guess they dont qualify for the main page because they’re all natural with realistic bodies 🙃 tired of the same look these brands try to push on all of us
— 🇪🇸 Noël Göbrutz 🇩🇪 (@hyphylilbrat) May 14, 2019
Initially, Oh Polly defending the page in a tweet, saying that it was “celebrating a wider range of people in our community”.
Replying to one Twitter user, the brand said the ‘inclusive’ page “isn’t just about diversity, we’re going to give you guys SO much more than that”.
But now all posts on the page have been taken down and the company has apologised for what it called “a serious error of judgement”.
Hey! @ohpollyinclusive is the heart of the brand! This page isn't just about diversity, we're going to give you guys SO much more than that! Here you can get exclusive access to BTS at OP HQ plus, get a glimpse into the lives of our favourite models and influencers 😘💫
— Oh Polly (@ohpolly) March 29, 2019
In a statement to BBC’s Radio 1 Newsbeat, Oh Polly admitted it was a “serious error of judgement, saying: “Improving diversity remains an absolute priority for us across all of our channels.
“We promise to continue listening to everyone in the Oh Polly community and, most importantly, learn from this mistake.”Oh Polly has a lot of people to listen to.
Do better.
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