We all recall the Dove ads featuring so-called real women, meaning curvy, non-perfect, non-waif models of all shapes, colors and sizes — beautiful in a more reassuring way than typical cover girls. Then, back in January, there was American Eagle’s Aerie lingere ad campaign, the designers of which wanted us to know the photogs had nixed airbrushing and were instead proudly broadcasting untouched photos of teen models, complete with tattoos, birth marks, blemishes and all. Now, Betabrand has topped that — adding some brainy brawn to the mix for its spring line campaign.
The San Francisco-based crowdsourced e-commerce clothing company Betabrand recently announced that its new ad campaign will spotlight only models who have PhDs or who are currently doctoral students preparing to earn their doctor cred.
The strategy, of focusing on beauties with obvious and massive brainpower, is the creation of Chris Lindland, cofounder of Betabrand.
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It all began when Lindland asked his real, everyday neighbors if they’d like to model for the ad campaign for his new clothing line and one who said yes just happened to be a Stanford PhD candidate studying neuropsychology. Light bulb: why not have all smarty-pants models? Past lines have featured models who were friends or family members.
Know a science geek who may be a good model candidate? There’s always an open call on the company’s Model Citizen app in search for more doc-mods (think hot bods with a new twist). The initial crop of models were found through a Betabrand Facebook appeal seeking women with PhDs, which attracted some 60 replies. Turns out braniacs like to flaunt what they’ve got, too. While some might see this and say, great, now I have to be slim and smart, I’m going to give the campaign an A+. It’s refreshing seeing so many bright, young females pursuing the sciences and being recognized for their noggins as well as their, well, you know.
