Gillette has been stirring a lot of controversy lately. First, there was their toxic masculinity ad. Now, they’re doing it again – with this body-positive post on Twitter:
Go out there and slay the day 💪🏼 📸 Glitter + Lazers pic.twitter.com/cIc0R3JfpR
— Gillette Venus (@GilletteVenus) April 3, 2019
The company immediately faced a backlash from Twitter users in spite of the inspiring message.
The photo features Anna O’Brien, a plus-size model, TikTok star with over one million followers, and Instagram influencer with over 300,000 followers. She’s also the author of A Life Full of Glitter: A Guide to Positive Thinking, Self-Acceptance, and Finding Your Sparkle in a (Sometimes) Negative World.
In a recent YouTube video, O’Brien addressed the controversy, saying, “Why does nobody discuss how weird that is, that someone’s so obsessed with another person’s body that they have to make it their mission that everybody knows how they feel about that body. It’s weird when you think about it. It’s really bizarre.”
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O’Brien had plenty of defenders on Twitter as well, including Gillette.
Venus is committed to representing beautiful women of all shapes, sizes, and skin types because ALL types of beautiful skin deserve to be shown. We love Anna because she lives out loud and loves her skin no matter how the “rules” say she should display it 💙
— Gillette Venus (@GilletteVenus) April 4, 2019
Interestingly, one thing the naysayers seem to have ignored is the fact that O’Brien regularly posts about her fitness activities, including swimming, running, yoga, pole dancing, and more. She’s been a brand ambassador and model for several fitness brands, including K-Deer and Academy Sports + Outdoors.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BOu5fxlDjOx/
O’Brien was recently in New Orleans, shooting images for a lookbook. You can hear her story about how she was pranked by TSA at the New Orleans airport at the video below (skip to 11:35).
