I’m glad I don’t wear Levi’s.

I read an article this morning about an ad campaign for Levi’s that pushes their line of Curve ID jeans for curvy women.

As a size 12 I’m offended.

Both of the ads featured in the article depicted models who couldn’t have been more than a size 6. One went so far as to line up three women who were likely a size 4 or 6, and the only way you could tell the difference between them was the slight variation in the size of their derrieres. (Last time I checked, curves weren’t limited to your caboose. I’m just sayin’.) That alone irritated me enough that I planned on writing a bit about it, but this is what really got to me:

While the line features a wide range of sizes, the focus is on the curvature of four different body types: Slight, Demi, Bold and the more recent, Supreme. The Starbucks-inspired naming convention is designed to take the stigma out of jeans sizes and celebrate the curvier figure.

…

Sorry. I nearly just slammed my head down on my desk. Anyway.

I get it. They’re trying to make people feel more comfortable about buying jeans by trying a new naming convention. It’s not a terrible idea, but the ads for Levi’s are atrocious. Instead of changing the name of your sizes and such, why don’t we work on the reason you feel the need to do that in the first place? Let’s do away with the idea of “plus sized” models and think of something more positive to say, shall we? (Personally I would hate putting on a pair of jeans marked “bold” or “supreme”. I’m not a pizza.)

I’ve long been a size 12 and when I was younger I hated shopping for clothes. (And the process of finding a wedding dress was especially hard.) The things I liked and wanted to buy were always picked over, and the only sizes left were the size 0’s or the extra smalls. My Mom made a good point, though. She said the reason the sizes that fit me were so hard to find sometimes was because more people were that size, and the stores likely bought too many of the smaller sizes and couldn’t sell them. That idea right there helped improve my sense of self and the way I felt about myself.

It’s not the number or size on the tag that people should worry about, although sadly, we all do it. We’ve been conditioned to. What’s more important is how the clothing fits you and how it makes you feel. I think most of us can agree on the fact that a pair of jeans that fit you well and make you feel sexy and beautiful  do wonders for you and your self esteem, the number on the tag be damned.

So, for any advertisers out there who check Tumblr? Take this into consideration. Instead of drawing attention to yourselves by proclaiming you sell clothing for curvy women and then using slender models in your ads? Why don’t you simply start using more types of models in your ads and let that speak for itself? Your customers aren’t stupid, and we remember “trivial” things like your ads for clothes aimed toward us curvy gals that feature models who look like nothing like us.

I’m out.