Ads That Show Women With 'Flaws' Win -- The End! (PHOTOS)

Stephanie Booth
Stephanie Booth
Beauty & Style

aerie ad unretouchedSure, we can appreciate a slick and glamorous ad campaign in which everyone looks they've been retouched within an inch of their lives. But what we love even more? Seeing REAL women showing off their imperfections. How do we know? Because underwear line Aerie's sales are reportedly up since debuting unretouched ads.

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No freakishly small waists. No bizarre thigh gaps. No weirdly pore-less, blemish-free skin. Last year, the CEO of American Eagle (which is the parent company of Aerie) famously said, "There's no need to retouch beauty," and, well, apparently they're standing behind that.

Stacey McCormick, Aerie's senior director of marketing, tells us exclusively:

The flaws are what make us interesting. Customers want to see what the product will really look like before they buy or believe in a brand ... We're proud to be part of this movement and hope to inspire others to spread the word. It's what drives us. We have a responsibility to our girls to be real and to promote a positive body message.

Check out some of Aerie's ads which use the hashtag #AerieReal to let us all know these models have NOT been digitally slimmed, trimmed down, airbrushed, or whatever else perfectionist art designers can do from the privacy of their cubicle.

 

Pretty wonderful, right? Instead of staring at images and thinking, "I wish I could look like that," think of how many tweens, teens, and young women can RELATE instead.

And we love how much emphasis is put on the models' bodies rather than their faces. Being fit and active is something we can all aspire to be, even if we weren't born with the bone structure of a supermodel.

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And now Scream Queens actress Emma Roberts has joined in. As the model for Aerie's fall campaign, she's allowing herself to be shot without retouching. That means if she shows up for a shoot with a zit, under-eye circles from being out too late the night before, or the hint of a wrinkle, it stays in the pic.

Do we see any flaws? Um, no. (Unretouched isn't the same as un-made-up, after all.) But the shot still looks pretty real to us.

If other fashion brands take the same high road, we hope to be able to say those two words together more often.

"As a brand, we want to make a difference -- stand out and send a message," says McCormick. "The real you is sexy."

 

Image via aerie/Instagram

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