Hey Beautiful! Self-Love Has Been Dominating the Internet All Week—And We …

Feeling beautiful in a world with supermodels and gorgeous actresses dominating every magazine cover, billboard, and TV show can be tough—really tough, some days (we’re sitting here staring at April’s cover model Olivia Wilde, after all). But thankfully, some companies are giving us the ammunition to fight back against negative messages—both from the world and from ourselves—with new campaigns intended to inspire all of us to feel stunning, inside and out. Granted, they’re all from companies trying to sell us something. But we appreciate that they’re saying it in a way that will help us feel better about ourselves rather than make us feel like we’re less than perfect. (Has Body Image Become Oppressive? A Look at the Backlash Against Beauty.)

Dove: Choose Beautiful

If you were presented with two doors to walk through, one marked “beautiful” and the other marked “average”, which would you choose? That’s the decision Dove poses in their powerful new campaign, Choose Beautiful. And it’s immediately clear that this is not as easy of a decision as you may think. The video shows women upon women waffling between doors. Ultimately (and disappointingly), most end up going through the average door. While some of the women said they just didn’t want to appear conceited, most said that they really don’t feel pretty. “Beautiful for me? It’s too far away, out of reach,” says one Japanese woman.

But, most interesting, was how this choice made them change their view of themselves. By the end of the experiment (and after some were dragged through the more positive door by their mothers and friends), most of the women say they’d walk proudly under the “beautiful” title if given the chance again. “Beautiful is a great word, so why not see what’s on the other side of that?” concludes one young woman as she throws open her arms, parading through the entryway the way we think every woman should.

Lane Bryant: #ImNoAngel

Lane Bryant just released a cheeky new ad campaign that takes aim at the impossibly gorgeous Victoria’s Secret Angels. The plus-size brand has women model their new lingerie line while saying “I’m no angel…” (double entendre, no doubt). After showing off their hot (and much more relatable) bodies, the models add, “I’m all kinds of sexy!” to remind us that you don’t have to have a certain body type or look to be sexy. The message is a powerful one for a generation that grew up envying the VS Angels for more than just their wings. And there’s nothing more powerful than seeing a woman who actually looks like you touting confidence and sexiness. (Real Women Discuss: Why Heavy Women Are Invisible.)

Curvy Kate: Star in a Bra

Women’s breasts come in all shapes and sizes—but you’d never know it based on the limited offerings in most stores. It’s not just a problem of exclusion: Ill-fitting underwear condemns large-chested ladies to years of tugging, digging, and spillage. (Find The Best Bra for Your Breast Type.) But Curvy Kate, a lingerie brand designed specifically for women who are a D-cup or larger, decided to fight this battle on two fronts: By designing affordable, high quality bras in larger sizes and by sending out a call for real women to post pics of themselves modeling their lingerie as part of their annual Star in a Bra campaign.

The snaps were then posted online where people could vote for their favorites. Curvy Kate named Sophia Adams the 2015 “Star in a Bra,” but they also created a powerful ad with 10 of the fan favorites. The art direction came directly from Victoria’s Secret’s fall “Perfect Body” ad campaign, creating a strong visual message by having real women pose in the same way as the models. Not only is it healthy for us to see real women modeling, but they even have wisdom to share: Adams, the contest winner, shows off her 32JJs and adds, “I used to have so many body hang ups, hated my size, and wanted to change myself. But as I get older I’m realizing it’s all about self love and treating your body like the temple it is!”

In the end, all three campaigns aren’t about outer beauty (although there’s plenty of that too), but are instead about how to feel gorgeous in a world that constantly wants to tell us we’re not. But our bodies are temples and sometimes we just need to be reminded of how amazing each of us truly is, no matter what we see in the mirror.

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Victoria’s Secret, listen up: Rival lingerie firms say every body is beautiful

The #ImNoAngel campaign appears to be a dig at Victoria’s Secret ‘angels’ – supermodels who take place in the brand’s fashion show.

Lane Bryant has said it is “redefining sexy” and has encouraged women to share images and messages on social media to highlight what ‘sexy’ means to them.

CEO Linda Heasley explained: “Our ‘#ImNoAngel’ campaign is designed to empower ALL women to love every part of herself. Lane Bryant firmly believes that she is sexy and we want to encourage her to confidently show it, in her own way.”

Here in the UK, lingerie brand Curvy Kate is featuring plus-size women in its ads as part of its “every body is beautiful campaign.”

_{Curvy Kate’s ad seemingly mocks Victoria’s Secret}

The company put out an ‘open to all’ call for women to model in their campaign. After 1,000 women entered, 10 finalists were picked to feature in the ad.

The women, all of who have different body shapes, stand in their underwear with the slogan ‘the perfect body’ written across them.

It comes after Victoria’s Secret was heavily criticised for featuring a similar ad with the same slogan – but showing a group of slim models.

_{The Victoria’s Secret ad with its pun on ‘body’ – the name of its lingerie range}

After thousands of people signed petitions calling for the company to change the ad, Victoria’s Secret changed the wording to ‘A body for every body.’

_{The second version of the Victoria’s Secret ad}

Curvy Kate’s spokeswoman Chantelle Crab, told Glamour: “We came up with the idea as we truly believe that there isn’t one type of perfect.

“The women in the [Victoria's Secret] campaign are beautiful, but we think that every woman is beautiful in her own right and should be represented fairly in the media too.”

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