Like most Governments, Spain’s has a habit of shooting itself in the foot, but this time around they somehow managed to hit both feet with a single bullet whilst the feet were well and truly in their mouth.
The campaign entitled “Summer is Ours Too” is designed to show that every woman should be able to visit the beach and enjoy themselves – the launch was accompanied by a tweet – “Summer is ours too. Enjoy it how, where and with whoever you want. Today we toast to a summer for everyone, without stereotypes and without aesthetic violence against our body.”
The main problem seems to be that the design agency – arte mapache – simply stole the images from instagram,,,, and made some very basics changes in Photoshop….
Curvynyome is just one of five women shown in the ad campaign – she and two others – so far – have identified them selves in the montage.
The only real change to her original instagram image is the colour of her bikini. and the position of her arm.
This is not the case for Sian Green-Lord’s image was also used – and here is, perhaps the biggest twist, and the most abusive.
Sian Green-Lord lost a leg in when she was hit by a car that mounted the pavement in New York some years ago.
Despite the fact that the entire campaign is supposedly making the bold statement that all women should feel free and confident the visit the beach, the Spanish government seem to draw the line when it comes to amputees. Ms Green-Lord’s Photoshopping included, not only colouring here swimsuit, but airbrushing her a new leg… well, done arte mapache – adding insult to injury. Literally.
Juliet FitzPatrick has had a double mastectomy…. Spain appears to be happy for her to go to the beach without photoshopping in new breasts, but again failed to get her permission.
The cherry on the cake? The agency also used a font without having the appropriate licence.
There is little more they could do wrong.
They have now offered the split their design fee – apparently €5,000 with the “models” presumably after paying for the font licence, but this is not enough.
The designers and their employer, the Spanish Ministry, need to be held to account.
You cannot simply steal images from instagram accounts and use them in commercial designs. And any agency considering presenting themselves for Government contracts should be well aware of this.
In this particular case there is an overpowering stench of nepotism. Or maybe it is simply the smell of incompetence. Either way these women deserve more than an apology – rather the recognised model rates for a campaign with the marketing budget allocated to this ill advised clusterfuck.
