Fashion brands have frequently been into controversy for their lack of inclusivity. However, Shein, a fast fashion company, recently broke all norms by getting a marketing strategy dreadfully wrong. The major clothing brand posted a number of images to its website showcasing a specific pair of tights’ silky elasticity.
A plus-size model was photographed posing with a water dispenser bottle wrapped in her tights, and the image quickly went viral, landing the women’s clothing company Shein in hot water.
When a Twitter user grabbed the images and posted them to her profile, several users criticised the label for its strange representation of plus-size models. Instead of employing plus-sized models in the advertisement, the brand chose an odd strategy.
Shein has since updated the images on their website to remove the water bottles. The online fashion retailer reportedly removed the offending product image later and appeared to replace it with images of black stretchy tights.
Shein has, however, additionally come under fire for offering low-quality, fast-fashion items that are unusable after a few uses, rendering its clothing non-sustainable.