Lane Bryant Ad Controversy | FOX And ABC Refuse To Air Lane Bryant Lingerie Commercial

It seems that when a plus size woman is shown in any type of fashion capacity on a major stage, her appearance is going to garner a certain amount of attention. But I am sure the ad executives who designed a short 25 second spot for Lane Bryant’s new Cacique bra had no idea an ample bosom could cause this much controversy.

In the well-executed piece, model Ashley Graham is shown in different pieces of suitably fit lingerie as she prepares to leave the house. She prances around in two different bra and panty sets as well as a bra-top chemise before throwing on what appears to be a very light black jacket, grabbing her keys, and heading out the door.

The ad in question is tamer than 90 percent of what the two opposing networks show after 8 o’clock. I find it difficult to understand why any network would have any problems with the content of the commercial. When you consider that ABC was supposed to play the ad in its entirety during Dancing with the Stars, where two nights a week you can see scantily clad stars like Pamela Anderson spread eagle and simulating who knows what on the dance floor, it makes the idea of censoring LB’s lingerie ad even more than preposterous. Now don’t get me wrong, I love watching Pam and all the other contestants strut their stuff half clothed on the show. But to say that the new Lane Bryant ad displays more cleavage or salacious images than what already appears regularly on ABC is more than a bit of a stretch.

When news carrier WPIX spoke to Ashley Graham, the model in the controversial ad, she seemed absolutely outraged that the piece had been banned calling the networks “prejudice” and “sad”, stating that “the Victoria’s Secret girls can flaunt around in their panties all day long. But when there’s a bigger woman with a little bit extra, they snipped it out immediately”.

I too am saddened by the naïveté of these two media outlets. But at least I, and others like me, know where America gets some of the crazy ideas most people believe about plus size women. When executives at FOX and ABC sat down to decide whether the ad was suitable for television do you think they even considered Graham’s size? Of course she is going to have more cleavage than say Pamela Anderson. She’s probably at least a foot taller and more than a handful of sizes bigger. But no one ever stopped to think that proportionally she is not showing any more than you would see in your average, run-of-the-mill Victoria’s Secret ad. I bet the executives didn’t even know that a plus size woman could be that beautiful and let’s not even talk about the fact that she had a flat stomach. Maybe they just didn’t know what to do because she blew apart all the preconceived notions they could have had. Just because Graham and other plus size women may have cleavage that is too much for the big wigs at Fox and ABC to handle, doesn’t mean the rest of America won’t get it.