So, keeping with the theme of reviewing denim campaigns, I decided to take a look at River Island's latest edition. Their video titled "Labels are for Clothes" features a variety of different ethnicities, sexualities and representations. The only thing I believed they were lacking were diversity of sizes, which seems to be a reoccurring problem in recent denim campaigns.
I really like how they go in full force (of course with the exertion of plus sized models) exploring different types of people, and who their jeans are totally inclusive. I'm unsure as to what size their denim goes up to buy I bet you any money it is no more than a size 18, if that... It seems that these brands one again don't want to address all issues when it comes to the industry, they pick only one or two instead of all of them. River Island hit the mark when it comes to gender stereotypes, sexuality and ethnicity, but seem to have forgotten about anyone over a size 8.
Despite this, I do really like their campaign and the slogan "Labels are for Clothes". I just don't want this movement to be trivialised as for some people who are constantly labelled and discriminated against, this matter is an everyday struggle not just a slogan for a denim campaign. I hope that this campaign helps to bring a little more awareness to these issues.
Now River island have demonstrated that they can be inclusive - it would be great to see more of this throughout their future campaigns and not just their denim ones. If a brand have proved that they can do it once, then there is no excuse for them not to do it again, and to become a regular thing within their marketing.
For someone who is openminded and non judgemental of people different from myself, it's refreshing to see other people being include and represented by a million-pound company. I think it's a great thing to showcase these areas as being "normal" because, well, they are! These people shouldn't be included because it means a brand is more inclusive or because equality has become a trend, they should be included because they represent the society that were are living in today. Fashion is there for everyone, so therefore everyone should be included.