Fashion brand Oh Polly apologises after creating separate Instagram account for plus-size models
'We promise to learn from this mistake'
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Your support makes all the difference.Online fashion brand Oh Polly has apologised after customers noticed it was running a separate Instagram account for plus-size models.
The account, named Oh Polly Inclusive, has been criticised on social media by people including YouTuber Alissa Ashley, who described it as “segregation”.
“What makes these women not suitable for your main page @ohpolly ? Ohpollyinclusive?? Who approved this?” she tweeted on Monday.
“Like imagine calling yourselves inclusive and not wanting to post women that don’t fit your ‘aesthetic’ on your brand page lmao [sic].”
Ashley’s tweet garnered more than 20,000 likes and thousands of responses from people concurring the the additional page was discriminatory.
“This is such a bad move,” wrote one person, “why make an entire new page for brand inclusivity when you can you just be an all around inclusive brand on your main?”
Another added: “Why does the other page say “Inclusive” on it? There should be just one page that has both. That’s what inclusive means doesn’t it?”
Several users took issue with the bio on the Oh Polly Inclusive page, which featured the phrase; “Zero % Tolerance, 100% inclusive”, which they said made little sense.
“The phrase ‘zero percent tolerance’ literally means ‘we are not tolerant’ which seems like the opposite of being inclusive??” wrote one person. “What were they even trying to say?? I’m very confused???? Lmao [sic]”.
Oh Polly’s main Instagram account has more than two million followers. Oh Polly Inclusive, however, had just 3,600. It has now been removed and the brand has apologised for its “serious error of judgement”.
Speaking on BBC Newsbeat, a spokesperson for Oh Polly said: “We established a new page with the specific aim of allowing our customers to discuss a wider range of issues.
“Improving diversity remains an absolute priority for us across all of our channels.
“We promise to continue listening to everyone in the Oh Polly community and, most importantly, learn from this mistake.”
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