Forewarning: this is a long post but worth it!

I saw this documentary, America the Beautiful, this past spring and it was amazingly eye opening (It’s now on Netflicks.com to watch instantly!). The creator, Darryl Roberts was actually there for the viewing and it was refreshing to see a man so passionate about women’s issues, especially mentally what women go through, and in turn battling huge issues in the media that only fuel the flame in women’s worlds.

His latest work has been taking action against big names in the media that are obviously displaying negative images of women in very unhealthy ways. Ralph Lauren has been under scrutiny lately because of his choice of adds and WAY over editing them to make a normal beautiful model appear drastically thin as if to encourage anorexia and one looks almost like a bobble head. How is that attractive, anyway? Why is having some curves and meat such a bad thing now?

Darryl has written two letters to RL and I wanted to spread the word. One can be found here. The other is below along with examples of the ads. If you also believe in this cause about fighting for a change in how media is portraying women in unhealthy ways, please email boycottralph@americathebeautifuldoc.com and let Darryl know so his numbers are up to date! We need change, not just for us adult women, but for our girls who are growing up with this image of beauty thrown at them as well. Look at the ads below, is that what you want your daughter to look like? I didn’t think so.

Hello Mr. Lauren,

Let me preface this entire letter by saying that I’m truly sorry that we have to meet under these terms and conditions. I would rather have met you at the Four Seasons Hotel and had a juice and pretzels with you, because I’m sure you’re a really interesting guy. And I assure you, I’m a really nice guy as well.

Fortunately for me, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting tens of thousands of young girls while promoting my documentary “America the Beautiful.” To look in the eyes of over 100,000 college women and hear their pain (body image, self-esteem) has been an experience that I will never forget. I’ve also heard from over 80,000 parents that are in pain because they have to hear from their sons and daughters in pain. It does truly become a generational cycle.

I’m sure that you’re fully aware that a lot of the American population feels that the unhealthy ads in magazines are damaging to women. The damage comes in various forms; body image problems, low self-esteem and for some of the women, they get a full blown eating disorder like your niece Jenny.

I had a professional in the eating disorders world tell me last night that images like yours don’t cause eating disorders in every girl that sees it – What happens is girls that end up with an eating disorder had a 50-80% predisposition for getting an eating disorder in the first place and the negative magazine fashion ads and other factors are the gun that pulls the trigger. For the millions of other girls that don’t get an eating disorder, they’re left feeling fat, ugly and worthless.

Ralph, there is no turning back for me. When I met these women traveling from city to city and country to country, I looked them in the eye and promised them that I would do whatever I could to make the world a better place for them.

In my last letter to you, I mentioned that I would never buy anything with the RL (Ralph Lauren) label on it. Well, over 100,000 people emailed me and said they were joining me. They said they wouldn’t buy anything with the RL label on it as well until you promised to stop the very harmful kind of marketing and advertising for which you’ve been accused. Some of their emails are below.

In case you’re wondering “what harmful marketing and advertising?” – I have exhibits A, B and C of your advertising below.

Most of the emails that I’ve received are from adults. They’re fed up with it Ralph.

Believe it or not, they get hurt as much as the young girls that read the magazines and look at the ads. “How? You wonder.”  When a young girl reads these ridiculous fashion magazines and gets triggered into a full blown eating disorder, who do you think gets left holding the bag for the $30,000 a month treatment?  I’ve met parents that have had their entire savings wiped out and some have taken out second mortgages on their homes to pay for the treatment of their young daughters. Trust me Mr. Lauren, they’re sick of it.

To be clear, this isn’t just an issue of eating disorders. In my film, “America the Beautiful,” I interviewed a 7 year old girl and a 12 year old girl, both of whom insisted that they were ugly. They couldn’t tell me specifically why they were ugly. They could only reference celebrities and ads of models as references of how they’re supposed to look. And you know what was funny about the whole thing, neither one of them were ugly. They were quite attractive girls actually. Their self-esteems have been assaulted by —- I’m sure you get the picture by now.

Mr. Lauren, women live in a very toxic culture. Men as well now that I think about it.

For the record, I’m letting you know that exactly 112,489 of us will no longer buy anything that you’re associated with until you give us a commitment that you will no longer use droconian advertising like the ads below. We don’t want any money from you, nor do we want any free clothes. We just want young girls that read fashion magazines to be safe.

Also for the record, ANAD, the largest eating disorders awareness organization in the US is supporting me with my boycott. You can read about them at www.anad.org

I’ll be in Washington, DC tomorrow meeting with the CEO of the YWCA to get them to support me with my boycott as well.

There are YWCA locations in 122 countries around the world, 300 locations in the US working in 9 regions – 25 million women strong. You can read about them at www.ywca.org

I’m going to talk to the press, arrange demonstrations, basically anything I can do to help women that suffer from these ludicrous ads.

I plan on having  over 1 million people that agree with my position to not purchase any RL products as well until you agree to advertise to women in a way that respects and values them.

For clarity sake, this boycott isn’t just about your company. It’s about the entire fashion / beauty industry that advertises in a way that’s harmful for women. We’re hoping they will see that people are fed up and change their advertising practices as well. We picked you because you went waaaaay over the top with the 3 ads below.

If and when you send a formal announcement agreeing to stop with your draconian advertising, the boycott will be over and I’m sure some parents will forgive you and start buying your bedding products again.

Remember we’re doing this for the safety of young girls Mr. Lauren, including your niece Jenny.

So, what’s it going to be Ralph? It’s your conscience. Your decision.  We await your answer. Until then, I’m off to do my Christmas shopping with your competitors.

Respectfully yours,

Darryl Roberts

REASON #1 FOR THE BOYCOTT - REASON #2 FOR THE BOYCOTT - AND REASON #3 FOR THE BOYCOTT -