Spain’s equality ministry has launched a new ad campaign in the name of diversity with the message that “all bodies are beach bodies.” The campaign includes photos of a topless woman after a mastectomy and more.
Minister of Social Rights Ione Belarra said that the idea behind the campaign is for women to stop worrying about how their bodies look, enjoy the summer, and hit the beach no matter what their size, the BBC reported in a piece published Wednesday.
“Summer is ours too,” the slogan on the campaign poster reads.
“All bodies are beach bodies,” Social Services Minister Ione Belarra tweeted in promotion of the campaign.
The poster for the campaign can be seen below and here.
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In the campaign, people can see illustrations of five women at the beach. One goes topless after having a mastectomy, several plus-size models wear bikinis, and another woman lies on a towel in a swimsuit.
The Spanish Women’s Institute, the organization behind the initiative, said the idea behind the campaign is to show the validity of all bodies, the BBC noted.
“Today we toast a summer for all, without stereotypes and aesthetic violence against our bodies,” the ad explained.
However, not everyone was impressed with the move, with many calling it absurd to assume that women need government permission to go to the beach. Junior equality minister Ángela Rodríguez Pam took to Twitter and wrote that “of course we go, but we’re assuming we’ll attract hatred for showing a body that isn’t standard,” the outlet noted.
Señores diciendo que las gordas ya podíamos ir a la playa sin permiso de Igualdad.
Claro que vamos pero asumiendo odio por enseñar un cuerpo que no es normativo
Lo que reivindicamos es que todos los cuerpos están bien, también el tuyo Manolo que no es precisamente el más bello— Ángela Rodríguez Pam 🏳️🌈 ♀️ (@Pam_Angela_) July 27, 2022
“Gentlemen saying that fat women could now go to the beach without permission from Equality,” the tweet read, per Twitter translate. “Of course we are going but assuming hatred for teaching a body that is not normative.”
“What we claim is that all bodies are fine, including yours, Manolo, which is not exactly the most beautiful,” the post added.
Others asked if the ad needed to include men who didn’t have a perfect physique. Then Spain’s left-wing leader, Cayo Lara, labeled the campaign the height of absurdity, saying it was trying to “create a problem where it doesn’t exist.”