It Gets Worse: Man Featured in Aerie Campaign Had No Clue it Was a Joke

Look, we wrote about the #AerieMan campaign.

And when we did we talked about the possibility of it being a joke, but we hoped they weren’t that stupid. Well, it turns out they were. And, predictably, when we found out that Aerie’s #AerieMan campaign was indeed an April Fools’ Day hoax, we – along with the rest of the world – were not amused.

As you’ll recall, the campaign – which included a video that quickly went viral – featured four men of varying shapes, sizes, and degrees of body hair. Clad in their underwear, the men shared their personal stories and opinions on their bodies and on male body image.

For a hot second, it seemed that the brand was taking a bold step in pioneering the male body positivity movement – something we should all be talking about. It came just days after IMG announced their plus-size men’s division, too. But something seemed off about the video.

As it turns out, the whole thing was a joke to parody the brand’s airbrush-free #AerieReal campaign by Aerie – a hugely successful campaign that made the brand a leader in body-positive marketing and contributed to a skyrocket in sales. And yes, it’s just as backward as it sounds from the usually progressive company. Naturally, it didn’t take long for may to take offence with the whole “haha, men don’t really have body issues” angle, and miss the “joke” entirely.

The thing is, the joke was also on at least one of the men who was featured in the campaign.

Kelvin Davis, has since spoken out after receiving backlash from the body positivity community, saying that had no idea the whole thing was a publicity-seeking parody. He contends that his comments and contribution to the video were 100 per cent authentic, real, and unscripted and that he had no idea how it would be marketed. Despite his claims, social media users have claimed that Davis and the other men featured (including the chiseled, model-esque Matt) sounded slightly disingenuous.

Either way, it’s safe to say that Aerie missed the mark on the campaign. On the positive, it has inspired a powerful dialogue concerning male body image. And the silver lining is the fact that, in revealing the video as a hoax, the company also announced that it would stop airbrushing male models in underwear and swimwear by holiday 2016. #backpeddling

The company has said that the campaign was intended to ignite a conversation around body positivity (which, admittedly, it did) and donated $25,000 to the National Eating Disorder Association.

But, with a growing number of people now boycotting the brand, it looks like the joke is officially on Aerie.

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