General Pants’ #NOFILTER campaign
General Pants launched it’s #nofilter campaign this week following their latest swimwear release. Australia’s most famous Instagram models Steph Claire Smith (1.3 million followers) and travel blogger Bree Warren (222k followers) lead the charge. Every single image featured in the shoot is raw, unedited and real. The women are unpolished, vulnerable and show their stretch marks, scars and bumps with pride. The campaign is an incredibly powerful message to all young women as summertime approaches.
General Pants Chief Digital Officer Paula Mitchell said in an article with Power Retail, “93 million selfies are taken each day and of the people taking these pictures, 64 percent use a filter or editing app to ‘retouch’ the image.”
Young women can feel uncomfortable in their own skin, especially in swimwear. General Pants want women to feel empowered and to break the common perception of perfection. They are celebrating body positivity and saying no to airbrushing.
Source: General Pants
On the General Pants website it says “our selection of swimwear bottoms cover a variety of cuts designed to cater to, and flatter, a variety of body shapes and preferences.” Each piece in the range is comfortable and features timeless designs and colour palettes.
General Pants said “for the first time ever, Steph Claire Smith and Bree Warren feature un-retouched in a national campaign that embraces their body shapes and personally perceived flaws. Their #NOFILTER stories are a reminder that even those who seem confident on the surface have struggled with self-doubt.”
In a promotional video for General Pants Steph Claire Smith said “we’re all like flowers in a way, we are all different colours, shapes and sizes but we’re all really beautiful in our own unique way.”
Bree Warren said “I think people find it refreshing to see someone more like them.” It is rare that we see unedited photographs of women in clothing stores, online and in stores.
On their website General Pants ask customers to post unedited images in their swimwear:
“Raw and real – it’s a thing. Join our girls Steph Claire Smith and Bree Warren and get on board the #NOFILTER movement by embracing body confidence this summer. We’ll be sharing your GP Swim posts and #NOFILTER stories throughout the season so tag @general_pants #GPswim #NOFILTER and get involved! No airbrushing. No editing. Just YOU.”
Source: General Pants
Social media users commented on General Pant’s Instagram posts with positive responses. However, one user wrote their frustration with the campaign for using ‘flawless’ women.
Overall the response to the #nofilter movement is positive.
Photographer of the shoot Natalie Cottee wrote on Instagram “I am so proud to be able to shoot and Art Direct the new @general_pants summer swim campaign #NOFILTER with 100% no retouching. The campaign is about celebrating individuality.”
The swimwear features all kinds of cuts and coverage for every body type. General Pants also provides a 20% discount for university students. The entire range is affordable at $35 for a ‘Subtitled’ triangle top and $35 for the bottoms.
General Pants is the latest to join the unedited movement, other Australian clothing store Sportsgirl currently have a campaign featuring ‘untouched’ women. Hopefully raw images will be the new normal for future campaigns. For now, General Pants is making a positive move with the #nofilter movement to show that imperfections are beautiful.
