BBW *Ruby*-barbie

City Center yanks "offending" poster

"It was a typical Thursday for Lynn Williams. The Columbus resident had been out and about, and decided to swing by City Center Mall, for nothing in particular. As she casually strolled the mall's second level, she was halted by an image in the window of The Body Shop, an international store known for its political correctness.

The picture in the window that stopped Williams in her tracks was that of "Ruby," a red-haired, blue-eyed plastic doll much in the likeness of Barbie with one very noticeable difference... realism. To say Ruby is fat would be an overstatement, not to mention cruel, even if she is made of plastic. But you could definitely call her pleasantly plump, or Rubensesque, which, in fact, is where her name originated. The poster in the window revealed Ruby, buck naked, reclining leisurely on a velvet green sofa. Above her, a passage that read "There are three billion women who don't look like supermodels, and only eight who do." This was enough for Williams to investigate further.

When she went into the store, she found out that the poster in the window was part of a self-esteem campaign sparked by The Body Shop designed to dispel the myth of the perfect body, as so often portrayed by the media, advertising agencies and cosmetic conglomerates. "I think the message for women," Williams said, "especially young women, was a very positive one." So she signed her name to a mailing list requesting a copy of the $20 dollar poster, when it was made available. On her way out she picked up a few postcards with the same image that the store had for free.

Two days later, on September 20—after dishing out some of the postcards to friends and neighbors in an attempt to spread The Body Shop's message—she went back to the store to inquire about getting more postcards. As she approached the store and caught view of the window, Ruby was gone. "One of the employees told me there had been a complaint from someone," she said. "I guess someone had said their children had been traumatized by seeing it."

In fact, a man who was at the mall with his two children passed by The Body Shop, saw the poster of Ruby, and later that day lodged a complaint with the City Center Mall management. Heather Deane-Whitehead, manager of The Body Shop, said she received a call from Peter Cooper, president of City Center Mall management, who told her that a complaint about the poster had been made and the poster of Ruby would have to come down. "He said a man with two kids, who had been at the mall, called the mall office and told them they would no longer shop at the City Center Mall because it had scarred the kids for life," Deane-Whitehead said. "All this was was a message. We weren't using it to sell anything, which is unusual for a retailer."

Nevertheless, the store had little choice but to bring the poster down, as well as quit distributing the postcards. "It just seems as though people here didn't get the message," Deane-Whitehead said." ~ quoted from Alive Wired Columbus.

The campaign of Ruby's has been running with great success in Canada, Switzerland and Australia in the past few years. Ruby has been talked about in The New York Times and on Good Morning America in August of this year. The campaign aims "to motivate our customers to buy our products by making them feel good about themselves, rather than by promoting some unattainable ideal!" Instead of the ultra-thin supermodels used to sell their products by so many cosmetic and ad agencies do by utilizing .

"The day after Ruby was taken down from the window, Williams lodged a formal complaint of her own, in the form of a hand-delivered letter she took straight to Cooper's office. "I think we need to see more of that message," Williams said. "I also think it's a matter of freedom of speech. I don't know who anyone is to make the decision of what's offensive and what's not offensive for the rest of us." Williams added that she knows of two others who are writing letters to Cooper complaining about Ruby's removal. "I''ve seen several other things there that would normally be considered more offensive," Williams said. "I think the decision [to outlaw Ruby from the store window] was hasty and thoughtless. And it seems dangerously close to censorship."