Olympians slam 'shameful and regressive' campaign to 'keep girls in sport' featuring Team GB rugby players in lingerie
- The Team GB rugby sevens stars have featured in Bluebella's latest campaign
- Bluebella say their campaign aims to encourage girls to be proud of their bodies
- The lingerie brand has faced criticism from some women on social media
A campaign by a lingerie brand featuring Team GB athletes has been criticised as 'shameful and regressive' despite stating its aim is to encourage more girls to remain in sport.
Lingerie brand Bluebella launched the latest part of their #StrongIsBeautiful campaign with rugby sevens stars Jasmine Joyce, Celia Quansah and Ellie Boatman.
The company have partnered with the trio in the build-up to this month's Olympics in Paris, where the Team GB rugby sevens team will be among the medal contenders.
Bluebella state their campaign, which has no association with Team GB, seeks to highlight that strength and femininity can go hand in hand.
The brand cited a Women in Sport survey in 2022 which found nearly half of girls drop out of sports after the age of 13, with self-belief and body image seen among the key factors.
Rugby sevens stars Jasmine Joyce, Celia Quansah, and Ellie Boatman have partnered with lingerie brand Bluebella as part of their latest #StrongIsBeautiful campaign
The Olympic hopefuls were pictured in lingerie during a training session in Richmond
A reported 64 per cent of secondary schoolgirls drop out of all sport before the age of 16.
‘We want to celebrate and normalise the beauty of strong and powerful female bodies, bodies that have historically been ignored by the fashion industry and stigmatised by society,' Bluebella said.
‘Our #StrongIsBeautiful campaign was born out of the fact that girls give up sports more readily than boys, partly because society does not equate the look of a strong female body with being beautiful or feminine. If young women do not equate strength with feminine beauty, it is a problem far beyond sport.
‘We have been running this campaign for 9 years and have been honoured to feature numerous world-class athletes.'
To support the latest installment of the campaign, rugby stars Joyce, Quansah and Boatman were pictured in lingerie in a training session at Richmond Rugby Club in south-west London.
'This Bluebella campaign is about showing girls that sport and fitness can help them feel really empowered, and how they can look muscular and strong, as well as feeling feminine,' Boatman said.
The campaign, however, has face criticism from British Olympians Sharron Davies and Mara Yamauchi on social media.
‘What the actual **** this is an utterly shameful campaign, whose brain dead idea was this? Oh yeah let’s get professional female sports women in porn underwear! Extremely regressive… stereotypes yet again,' wrote Davies, a silver medallist at the Moscow 1980 swimming silver medallist.
Bluebella have claimed the campaign is aimed at promoting girls remaining in sport
The campaign has split opinion on social media, with some branding it as being 'regressive'
Olympians Sharron Davies and Mara Yamauchi were among those to crticise the campaign
Two-time Olympic marathon runner Yamauchi added ‘This is exploitative, demeaning, sexist, regressive rubbish. Of course the intended audience is men. Portraying women as sex objects will not encourage teenage girls into sport.’
The campaign has faced further criticism on social media.
‘There’s a new campaign to get teenage girls into sport. Called #strongisbeautiful it’s been kicked off by Team GB rugby players posing in lingerie. Feels really regressive and sexist to me. Maybe I’m old,' one user wrote.
Another added 'It's a source of twisted fascination to me just how much feminism has been undermined.
‘Flitting about in lingerie, looking permanently sexually available, has nothing to do with #strongisbeautiful or in encouraging girls to play sports.’
The campaign was defended by others on social media, who noted the players themselves had opted to take part.
The latest Bluebella campaign has received a mixed reaction on social media
'Weird reactions to this. Two of these are openly gay players which is impactful and this appears to be the same Bluebella campaign the Lionesses took part in,' one wrote.
'They have autonomy over their bodies & they can choose to do this. If GB7s paid them more maybe they wouldn't?'
Bluebella had previously featured artistic swimmers Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, as well as skeet shooter Amber Hill, para long jumper Stef Reid and windsurfer Bryony Shaw before Rio 2016.
Former England international Fara Williams and Reanna Blades featured in a campaign last year ahead of the Women’s World Cup.
