The Swedish fashion chain H&M had ignored the ethical code of conduct in their lates bikini campaign. Without thinking of the connotations their visual message might contain , H&M set things in motion with one idea in mind: to sell as many bikinis as possible, by making their models look as sexy and perfect as possible. The formula might have worked well for decades, but this time H&M had forgotten to do their research. They hadn´t observed the alteration of certain social trends.
The public perception of a perfect look had changed over the years. Dark tans are now associated to risking skin cancer. The public has developped more awareness for sensitive topics such as health, wellbeing and beauty.
Numerous dermatologists and bloggers have raised their voices against the H&M campaign, which provokes an unhealthy and unnatural ideal of summer skin. It is, after all, an advertiser´s responsibility to analyse the messages of a campaign carefully. All advertising conntains opinion-leading elements. All advertising has certain impacts on society.
H&M had to apologize for their misguided campaign in May.
It was a watch and learn kind of worst case szenario, which might sensitize media consultants around the world.
Maybe next time, H&M dares to include some of the world´s most beautiful fair-skinned starlets into their campaign mix, such as:
Nicole Kidman
Amanda Seyfried
Cate Blanchett
Camille Belle
Angelina Jolie
Fair skin can be beautiful as well!
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