Documentary filmmaker Darryl Roberts's (America the Beautiful) boycott against Ralph Lauren is hardly showing signs of malnutrition. In fact, Miss Indiana 2009, Nicole Pollard, reportedly will join Roberts and more than 100 other advocates for better media and advertising images during a peaceful boycott Tuesday afternoon in Chicago.
The boycott, which will be video-streamed live on americathebeautifuldoc.com, unfolds at 4p.m. (CST) in front of Ralph Lauren's downtown Chicago store.
"Women and girls are subjected to media and advertising images that are not realistic portrayals of the true customer," Pollard said in a statement. "As a result, these women are left feeling inadequate and unworthy. While Ralph Lauren is certainly not the only offender in the fight to have more diversity in advertisements, by speaking up so strongly against a giant in the fashion world, perhaps the rest of the fashion industry will see that women are fed up with the advertisements they have been shown for so long.
"This peaceful demonstration is a way for all women to have their voice heard," she adds.
Roberts began talking about a Ralph Lauren boycott earlier this month after discovering a series of Ralph Lauren advertisements that depicted extremely thin women. One, an ad featuring Fillipa Hamilton, was photoshopped. Lauren's camp issued a public apology after the incident but Roberts is seeking an apology for the second and third ads he found, among other things.
In the meantime, Pollard's presence certainly generates buzz.
"I have been volunteering on behalf of those suffering from eating disorders for ten years now," she says. "As a woman who has felt the pressures of the unrealistic image we are all told to live up to, this demonstration gives me a chance to use my title to make a difference for all women. This campaign may have started with just one man who believed in the beauty of all women, but it will end with all women standing up and stating that we believe in the beauty within ourselves."
Read more about the boycott in related stories I reported on here.
For a look at a recent televised discussion about the boycott, see below.