This online store decided to advertise plus-size leggings in a totally offensive way
People are outraged by the way a pair of plus-size leggings is being advertised online. Instead of hiring a model whose body actually fits the leggings in the advertisements, a thin woman models the leggings by putting both of her legs into just one leg of the pants.
First spotted on Reddit and picked up by Michelle Garcia over at Mic, the colorful leggings are sized for women ranging from triple XL to 5 XL at online marketplace AliExpress.
“Sweet, finally a pair of yoga pants where a girl can fit all four of her legs into it,” one Reddit commenter joked.
"Forget the out-modeled three-legged race, the future is two-person two-legged racing," another commenter wrote.
Others pointed out that this was a retailer's classic tactic — market plus-size clothing to plus-size women, but not use plus-size models to do it.
Plus-sized model Tessa Holiday previously told Business Insider that some companies even go so far as to have skinny models wear padding or fat suits instead of hiring plus-sized models.
"In America, the girls had 'fat suits,' or just extra padding they could strap on to make themselves look curvier," she said. "This was usually applied around the hips. A few wore all over fat suits as it was too obvious sometimes. And, of course, some use a nice padded bra."
AliExpress does advertise the leggings using plus-size models, but its main images are the ones of smaller women swimming in the pants.
"It wasn't enough to just show this larger model wearing these pants?" Mic's Garcia questioned.
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