Popular Actress Criticises Beauty Brand For Shaming Women With Cellulite

The Good Place star Jameela Jamil called out beauty giant Avon for ‘shaming women’ with its marketing tactics.

British actress Jameela Jamil has criticised popular beauty brand Avon for its latest ad campaign, taking to Twitter to share her frustration. The brand’s latest commercial states that dimples are cute on your face but “not on your thighs” prompting the actress to highlight the impact such a message has on women of all ages.

Setting Us Up For Failure

Avon’s Body Proof range is aimed at reducing cellulite (yeah, right) and the attached #NakedProof campaign shows women in their underwear with various slogans, including the particular one referred to by Jameela in her tweet. Responding to the ad she said, “And yet EVERYONE has dimples on their thighs, I do, you do, and the clowns at Avon certainly do! Stop shaming women about age, gravity and cellulite. They’re inevitable, completely normal things. To make us fear them and try to ‘fix’ them, is to literally set us up for failure.” Jameela’s post has been retweeted thousands of times, with many followers applauding her for publicly criticising the campaign.

Stop The Manipulation

Not stopping at just one advert, Jameela continued to call out each caption pointing out the ridiculous claims made by the brand. “Every body is beautiful, unless they have any ‘flaws’ I guess. What a gross abuse of the body positive movement. I want you all to look out for constant manipulation. Once you see it, you can’t unsee it, it’s everywhere. You are constantly being manipulated to self hate.” Avon were quick to respond to the tweets, pointing out that the campaign was not part of its UK brand, but Avon US who were responsible for the advert issued an apology. “We intended this to be light hearted and fun, but we realise we missed the mark. We’ve removed this messaging from all marketing materials. We support our community in loving their bodies and feeling confident in their own skin.”

We love that someone like Jameela has finally used their following to fight against the kind of marketing women are exposed to each and every day. It’s also worth noting that no cream is going to make a significant difference to cellulite, so it looks like Avon was off to a bad start with this campaign anyway…

Do you feel pressure to ‘fix’ your cellulite? Let us know in the comments!

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23 Comments

- - meedee said
  - 26 Jan 2023
    9:34 am
Dont have to worry about this at all as Avon has left our shores.

- - rovermum said
  - 30 Jan 2019
    1:37 pm
I have cellulite. Yes, I do and I hate it. But, it is what it is and I have to live with it. I’ve read that once you have it, you cannot get rid of it. That message has now made me just gloss over and not even read about any products that can supposedly fix it. My understanding is that you can’t (without surgery) so would not waste a cent on ‘fixing’ it.

- - ella12 said
  - 30 Jan 2019
    12:38 pm
What an inspirational woman – and adios Avon!

- - mom318672 said
  - 30 Jan 2019
    11:46 am
Why can’t we just love ourselves and the story our body has to tell?! We will have to work extra hard to teach our children these values with stupid ads going around like this.

- - littlehandsofmine said
  - 30 Jan 2019
    7:11 am
I’m never going to use Avon again! We are beautiful the way we are.

- - rachel1970 said
  - 30 Jan 2019
    5:53 am
Good on her, she is a positive role model for all women.

- - mom101628 said
  - 29 Jan 2019
    10:30 pm
Don’t know if I have cellulite or not – but I do know I don’t like Avon or its advertising. So glad they decided to pull out of Australia.

- - mom112217 said
  - 29 Jan 2019
    11:35 am
Good on her,she has a voice and people will take notice.

- - MrsA said
  - 28 Jan 2019
    10:19 pm
I think people should be more offended that they are selling a product that won’t do anything and claiming it does.

- - nealsq said
  - 28 Jan 2019
    7:57 pm
So how else should they advertise their products, don’t like it don’t buy it

- - BellaB said
  - 28 Jan 2019
    7:06 pm
I try to ignore beauty advertising – it’s rarely helpful.
- mom93821 replied
  
  29 Jan 2019 , 6:58 am
  I totally agree – some claims do make me hold my sides!
- - mom93821 said
  - 28 Jan 2019
    6:32 pm
Nope! Do not worry one bit about cellulite! Some many other important things to worry about.

- - Mum2archer said
  - 27 Jan 2019
    11:10 pm
Good on her for calling them out on their advertising. I hate how cosmetic companies can make you feel inferior when things like this are completely normal things to have!

- - taynik46 said
  - 27 Jan 2019
    4:44 pm
Aww she is awesome to call it how it is – and good on AVON for removing it – lets hope the editors for future ad campaigns keep this in mind!

- - skbou said
  - 27 Jan 2019
    3:31 pm
Just another ad to roll my eyes over. Good on Jameela to letting them know we are not amused.

- - Blossom said
  - 27 Jan 2019
    3:30 pm
Avon is no longer sold in Australia at all. At least we don’t have to put up with some of their questionable advertising now

- - ashna9 said
  - 27 Jan 2019
    2:12 pm
She makes a fair point.

- - Ellen said
  - 27 Jan 2019
    7:46 am
Great how Jameela stood up against this type of marketing.
Personally I don’t feel the need at all to fix my cellulite.

- - LuckyMum said
  - 27 Jan 2019
    2:41 am
Good on her ! And well done Avon for responding the way they did

- - becstalou said
  - 26 Jan 2019
    7:44 pm
Good to see her standing up for what she believes in. Definitely shouldn’t be shaming women for how they look.