Urban Outfitters Uses Plus Models, Wont Carry Sizes

Urban Outfitters is the latest fashion house to use a Plus Model as a marketing tool, yet they do not even carry Plus Size clothing!

After Ashley Graham was featured by nearly every store and covered nearly every mainstream magazing in 2016, it's no wonder that Urban Outfitters has jumped on the body-diversity train. The trendy shop featured model Barbie Ferreira in an ad promoting people "challenging the status quo and forging the path ahead with hope and optimism,” according to HuffPo.

The major issue with this campaign, is that Urban Outfitters doesn't carry Barbie's size.  The retailer released a statement, found in the Huffington Post article, 

“We are pleased to feature a diverse cast of creatives in this campaign, and we hope to continue to feature people who reflect the range of customers who shop at UO. We do offer XL products in select styles and we are in the process of increasing our offering. We recognize that extended sizing is a right step for us and we’re in the process of making the shift.”

But shouldn't they have thought of this before launching? In fact, wouldn't a stronger message behind their campaign be if decided to start offering all their styles in more sizes? I believe their message would've been heard louder had they made an actual step in the right direction, instead of exploiting the Body-Posi community. 

This isn't the first time Urban Outfitters "inadvertently" body shamed their customers. Previously they made headlines with an "Eat Less" printed t-shirt. After the media caught wind, they claimed to remove the offensive pro-ana shirts from stores. You'd hope they would learn from that mistake, yet here we are.

Had Urban Outfitters thought through their marketing plans, this (and many other) articles would be celebrating their inclusion of a plus and a trans model, but instead we're fuming over their inconsideration. And now trans model Hari Nef is just a sentence, instead of the headline. 

What do you think? Did UO exploit the Plus Community? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.