Nancy Upton Wins American Apparel Contest, Has It Taken Away By Retailer (PHOTOS)

You may recall Nancy Upton, the clever plus-size gal who ironically entered herself in America Apparel's "The Next Big Thing" modeling contest. In her entry, Nancy submitted pictures of herself nearly naked, alternatively covered with/chowing down on all sorts of fatty foods. Her submission stated simply, "I'm a size 12. I just can't stop eating."

Nancy took her submission seriously, in that she was serious about showing how offensive the retailer's contest (which called for fans of "full-sized fannies" and "booty-ful" models) was to plus-size women.

So we were surprised and pleased to find out via The Frisky on Friday that Upton actually won the contest, which was decided by online votes.

But American Apparel wasn't going to stand for someone who made a mockery of their contest actually winning the contest. Today The Frisky has posted a formal letter written Iris Alonzo, the company's Creative Director who created the contest. She wrote to Upton:

It’s a shame that your project attempts to discredit the positive intentions of our challenge based on your personal distaste for our use of light-hearted language, and that “bootylicous” was too much for you to handle.

[...]

Oh — and regarding winning the contest, while you were clearly the popular choice, we have decided to award the prizes to other contestants that we feel truly exemplify the idea of beauty inside and out, and whom we will be proud to have representing our company.

Harsh. Alonzo also touches on American's Apparel's past media controversies, dismissing them by saying, "You’re literally witnessing a transparent, sincere, innovative, creative company go through puberty in the spotlight of modern media. It’s not easy!"

You know what is easy: awarding the first-place prize to the contestant who brought by far the most media attention to your offensive modeling contest.

Click over to The Frisky to read more. And in case you forgot (but how could you), here are just a few of Nancy's winning pictures below.

Comments

[SoMinty]

12:54 PM on 11/02/2011

Pretty funny that Iris Alonzo, American Apparel's creative director, describes it as a company "going through puberty."

After all, most of the barely-dressed, disturbingly young-looking models featured in their soft-core ad campaigns seem to be going through puberty too!

Let's face it, Iris. Nancy Upton's clever images are no more disturbing than the photos normally used to promote your company...

[electros]

12:47 PM on 11/02/2011

Talking about pies I would love to sink my teeth into that cherry pie and then I could give her a cream pie I am sure she would love.

[Douglas Campbell]

03:23 PM on 09/18/2011

American Apparel models usually look like they smell. I loved the cherry pie in face pic and the face down covered in oil pic.

[jbaker1925]

11:22 AM on 09/17/2011

Maybe the people at American Apparel threw up a little in their mouth after viewing the Ranch dressing pictures, like I did, and rightfully refused to crown her the winner.
Why was this woman upset that American Apparel was looking for "plus-size" models.

[geordilil]

11:10 AM on 09/17/2011

What AA seems to be objecting to is that Ms Upton called them on their own game. Their ads are soft core porn, so why would they object to her pictures? A company "going through puberty" would be childish enough to use words like "bootylicious" , "full-sized fannies", and "Xlent" (ain't that cute??), and pretend they aren't saying fat. This woman is simply mean and rude, and if I were AA, I'd get rid of her. This is quite possibly the stupidest thing they've done--Upton wins and this idiot writes a horrible letter which gets published all over. No wonder they are going broke.

[MsKia]

09:59 AM on 09/17/2011

I am going to learn how to sew.

[Gargoyliscious]

02:47 AM on 09/17/2011

So, I guess AA is so close to bankruptcy that they have already fired their professional PR people? 'Cause that sure seems like the kinda letter you'd be sending to a contestant winner specifically chosen by the public when you are down to a snarky creative director in the communications department. Well played AA, well played.

[johnny spot]

08:09 PM on 09/16/2011

For The Win: Nancy Upton Deemed Unsuitably Fat
American Apparel unsurprisingly denied Upton her landslide win based upon their opinion that she didn't “exemplify beauty inside and out.” If you're not willing to accept labels like “booty-ful” and “Xlent,” then American Apparel is willing to wave the f* you flag and show you the door. How can a company call terms like the ones listed above “light-hearted?” Euphemisms aren't “light-hearted.” At best they're polite, at worst they skirt an unpleasant issue rather than addressing it.. Employing euphemisms is the rhetorical equivalent of covering an extra roll of toilet paper with a hand knitted cozy. Everybody knows exactly what's underneath. What American Apparel is really saying by coining stupid adjectives is that being fat is not only wrong, but that it's so distasteful that it can't be mentioned in polite conversation. Seriously? You're trying to market plus sized clothing by telling your potential customers that they're disgusting? This has to be one of the great gaffes of marketing history. As Iris Alonzo, A.P.'s Creative Director insists in a last ditch effort to make things totally worse, “You’re witnessing a ... company go through puberty." Good one A.P. Now you're not only saying that your marketing department is comprised of adolescents, but that you think that using a word like "puberty" is more attractive than the concept of being fat. Congratulations. You've just self-awarded the 2011 Prize for Douchebaggotry.

[Lauren Kottwitz]

04:42 PM on 09/25/2011

EXCELLENT comment.

[jagrmeister721]

11:40 PM on 09/15/2011

Can American Apparel get any more lame?

[emlr]

03:56 PM on 09/15/2011

Was AA truly looking for plus size models or were they looking for women with big bootys?

[BowlingForRevenge]

01:20 AM on 11/02/2011

I think your second guess is correct.
I guess we'll see the ads soon enough.

[avery t]

10:50 AM on 09/15/2011

First, I'll put my bias on the table. I'm thin. I wear 29" jeans. I do not find this women even remotely attractive. Indeed, I find her the opposite of attractive.

From a business perspective, AA made the wise choice. Its brand image is thin (although, AA models are a lot bigger than runway models). Also, AA images (maybe not AA copy) has no sense of humor at akll. It isn't ironic at all. It is very serious about being sexy in a trashy way. It contains no parody at all.

The Gap went with the Gap body campaign. However, The Gap has almost gone bankrupt.

Having plus sized models may seem like a way to attract a wider demographic. However, people buy a brand, because they like its image. My hunch is that plus sized women who buy AA do so in the hope of looking more like the thinn(er) models in the photos. The clothing makes the woman. Changing (or widening) the image would hurt the brand, I think.

Cheney does sound like a creep. I would never defend him. However, AA is famous for paying is workers (based in the USA) well. As far as I know, AA uses no sweatshop labor and has very good policies w/r/t how it treats its factory workers.

[Dede Eagleburger]

11:59 AM on 09/15/2011

Your points may be right, but how can you defend their marketing of this 'contest'?

[avery t]

12:41 PM on 09/15/2011

I'm not. That wasn't the point that I was making.

The whole affair sounds nasty. It sounds like AA, a very tacky company, felt coerced into entertaining the idea of having plus sized models. If I ran a clothing company, unless I thought it would be financially advantageous to do so, i would never cater in anyway to the plus sized world. I am militantly thin. I am not a nice or forgiving person on the topic of weight. So, whenever, on HP, I FEEL expected to be nice or FEEL coerced into being way more ecumenical regarding body types that I am, I get defensive and a little mean.

If the fashion industry begins to feel very coerced into being welcoming of plus sized people, it will, I think, get defensive and mean. There will be a backlash.

[Ashley RayHarris]

12:32 PM on 09/15/2011

Uhm...American Apparel is close to bankruptcy too. Closer than the Gap even. That's why they're marketing to plus-sized women, it's a ploy to make more money. Also, AA doesn't seem to agree that their image is thin, as they're still going to choose another plus-sized winner and continue to market to plus-sized women.

Your statement that plus-sized women buy these clothes to look like thin women is just stupid. I really just can't even with that.

Also, nothing your saying comments on Upton's view of the contest or AA's actions in this contest. It's just a biased view of plus-sized women that doesn't even make sense.

[avery t]

01:21 PM on 09/15/2011

Ok. I could be wrong.

My hunch is that AA is WILLINGLY adopting plus sized models. It may be a PR or business necessity. Anyhow, once AA (not a company I like, mind you) parts ways with its tawdry hipster image, it won't have anything left. Again, I don't think AA wants to go plus size (unless there's money in it). Adding plus size models doesn't mean they LIKE to do it, just that they must do it, to stay afloat.

Yes. It is near bankruptcy. Last April, a 15 million dollar private investment saved it.

I didn't comment on Upton's view of the contest. I have no interest in that. I'm not interested in her message. I never spoke that.

However, you are correct that my view is biased. I would never claim that it wasn't.

[nuzzybear]

10:08 AM on 09/15/2011

This is such a misstep by American Apparel. No wonder their stock is scraping the bottom of the barrel. Some of the most successful promotions of companies have happened when they embrace their flaws and laugh at themselves - people love it.

Here, AA's style is already tacky and has a whiff of amateur porn in the ads - and that is *exactly* what Upton gave them! Even more important - she has gotten them tons of press. Now, they've screwed everything up - now they're not only tacky and amateur pornish, they're insulting, unreliable, and in denial of who they are.

They should have done an ad campaign in the same vein of what she gave to them and celebrated her sassy confidence - their clothing would have flown off the shelves and their stock would have gone into the positive numbers. Not only is Dov a pig, he's now shown that he's an idiot at marketing. Bravo.

[avery t]

11:02 AM on 09/15/2011

I don't know any fashion labels that publicly embrace their flaws. Have Prada, D&G, Gucci, or Hermes ever done that in an ad campaign? I don't AT ALL mean to place AA with those gods, but AA may try to be like them. Even Diesel's ads, which are often very tongue-in-cheek, take themselves seriously. Fashion may be whimsical, but it's not funny.

[madame fate]

09:40 AM on 09/15/2011

My, what thin skin AA has. Maybe that's the point. No thick skin allowed...

What I don't understand is this: Clearly this lady was making fun of the contest by using food to emphasize the concept that all fat people care about is eating. But how dense is AA not to have seen that? Is AA that out of touch with reality that they don't see a parody or sarcasm when it's right there before their eyes?

Makes me wonder if they thought it would be a good idea to post the winner in ads with lots of food. Why else would they have chosen this woman? Amazing. AA really is out of touch, IMA.

[Dede Eagleburger]

11:51 AM on 09/15/2011

LOL, you're right, except, they didn't choose her, the American public did. She was the one who submitted the pictures with the food :)

[madame fate]

12:24 PM on 09/15/2011

Maybe the public chose her or maybe the company just said that the public chose her? I don't trust contests. A company can do as they like and how would we, the public, ever know who really one? Unless, of course, the gov't stepped in and did some sort of auditing or accounting. Like that would ever happen...

[mzmadmike]

12:00 AM on 09/15/2011

At the very least, they need to hire a PR person who can write a kind rejection, when it is most certainly going web-wide. The rules said they could pick among the top ten. "While you were the most popular, we made a very tough decision to go with ms X, based on her charm with the camera" or such.

Or, you know, award her the prize and the contract, and try to make a positive out of it. If she refused, have a backup standing by.

This just smacks of "Wah! Wah! You were mean!"

[Dede Eagleburger]

12:09 AM on 09/15/2011

The way that they responded, proved her point, about the whole 'contest'.

[spkninglsh]

11:39 PM on 09/14/2011

Bummer. Now she can't work for American Apparel's creepy owner.

[Jelena C]

05:36 AM on 09/15/2011

I'm sure she's devastated.

[Samantha Jane]

11:45 PM on 09/15/2011

Did you see Iris' official company profile? Apparently being oblivious to AA's heinous culture of objectification is standard over there.

[spkninglsh]

12:07 AM on 09/16/2011

omg...real classy.

[Lauren Kottwitz]

04:53 PM on 09/25/2011

Oh my god... I wish I hadn't looked.

Class act, that one there.