Special K Uses Plus-size Women for New Campaign

In an unusual move for a cereal that claims to encourage weight-loss, this week Special K announced they will be using "plus-sizedreal women" in their new UK campaign. The Kellogg's breakfast brand has ditched their red swimsuit "K girl" in favor of ladies with a body mass index of up to 29. (A BMI of 18.5 to 24.9 is considered healthy, while 25 to 29.9 is categorized as overweight.)

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The new campaign shows women getting on giant scales in London's Covent Garden, and aims to encourage a more positive body image, even in people who want to lose weight. Instead of the scales flashing the women's weight, words pop up like "amazing," "happy," and "glowing." The ad also poses the question, "What if we stopped focusing on what we want to lose and focused on what we want to gain?"

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"We want to encourage a responsible attitude when it comes to body image and to show that losing weight isn't just about the way you look or a certain size you need to conform to, but more importantly about the way it makes you feel," a Special K spokeswoman told the Press Association.

While the "What will you gain when you lose" campaign launched back in 2011, this new ad accompanies a new section on Special K's website where people can upload videos about their weight loss goals, keep a food diary or download an iPhone app to track their mental and physical progress. Special K hopes that other "real women" will stimulate others to lose weight (hopefully by eating their products) and feel good about themselves.

As for the red-swimsuit lady, who appeared to be about a size eight, she'll be back. The brand's spokesperson says she "will still be used in other advertising as she is a long-standing icon of our brand but we still insist she has a BMI of at least 21, as we only want to use healthy body images."

Katie McNeil, a mother of two with a BMI of 29, was scouted for the new ad while shopping. "I think it's really inspiring to see more realistic women and body sizes instead of size eight models all the time in advertising, which is why I was delighted to take part," McNeil told the Press Association. "Losing weight for me is about feeling great whatever size or weight I am and this campaign sums that up perfectly."

According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention, the average weight for American women over 20 years old is 164.7 pounds with a 37 inch waist. The average dress size is is a size 14. There is much debate over what qualifies as "plus-sized." In clothing stores it may start at a size 12 or 14. While the average fit models wear a size two to six, plusmodels.com says the requirement for plus-size models is a size 6-16. These discrepancies have caused other advertisements to be scrutinized. Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, which began in 2004, featured non-models of various sizes and was generally well-received, but Levi's Curve ID ads came under fire for their weak attempt at showing curvy women.

Plus-size or not, we always appreciate seeing non-models who look more like us in an advertisement.

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