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UPDATE (June 27, 2019): The entire point of Billie's new "Red, White, and You Do You" campaign, which shows models both with and without underarm and pubic hair, is to help make women's body hair less controversial. But, inevitably, that makes the imagery inherently controversial because there are still many minds to change about the normalness, naturalness, and acceptability of body hair and the freedom of each individual to do with it as they please. And some of those minds had a lot to say about the campaign video.
Yahoo reports that when the Instagram meme account @beigecardigan shared the Billie clip, the comments were full of disapproving (and often remarkably ignorant) opinions.
"Fuck no. I feel physically ill. Thats just plain unAmerican," one commenter with a strange concept of patriotism wrote. Another who apparently thinks everyone has the same preferences they do said, "Just don't go getting all mad when nobody wants to get with your hairy bikini line." One commenter, who exhibited a stunning lack of biological information, said, "Gross. And completely unhygienic. The stink must be strong." Even Olympian Lolo Jones implied she isn't a fan with a simple, "What in the world."
Luckily, just as many — if not more — commenters left plenty of words celebrating the spot and laughing at the people who were disturbed by the sight of other people's body hair. "The removal of body hair is a personal choice, NOT a social obligation! i love this campaign & love this company," wrote one commenter on Billie's original Instagram post. "Love this! Who cares if you arent totally bare? We need to allow each other to feel safe and comfortable however we choose to rock our swimwear and body hair ♥️👏🏾," commented another. Others were simply amused by the outrage, saying, "Lol at people getting mad at body hair," and "Imagine being mad about hair on other people's bodies."
So how did Billie react to the reactions? By posting a portrait of one of its models' bikini bottoms, of course.
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This post originally appeared on June 26, 2019:
Exactly one year ago, razor brand Billie broke a seemingly ancient unspoken rule of hair-removal advertising by actually showing the hair being removed from a woman's leg using the product being advertised. It's truly baffling that we went so long without seeing such an obvious depiction in the history of women-targeted razor ads; it only makes sense to show how well a razor works by first showing the hair it's so efficiently removing (you know, like in commercials for men's facial-hair razors). And now, Billie is helping to tear down yet another inexplicable taboo with imagery showing more body hair — this time, pubic and underarm hair — that's been left untouched.
While it may seem strange to advertise a razor by showing unshaven pubic hair, it makes perfect sense not only in the context of Billie's much-needed envelope-pushing style of marketing, but also of its new autonomy-celebrating summer campaign, "Red, White, And You Do You." Set to New Young Pony Club's "Ice Cream," the 37-second clip shows a group of models at the beach. Some have pubic hair that reaches beyond the edges of their bathing suits, some don't; some have shaved armpits, some don't; it's hard to tell whether or not their legs are shaved. And that's the point — it doesn't matter. All that matters is that the models (and you) are using or not using Billie's razors the way each one deems right for themselves.
"In this film, we wanted to normalize body hair and show that we have options," Ashley Armitage, the campaign's director and photographer, told Refinery29. "Body hair on cisgender men is seen as attractive. Body hair on cisgender women, transgender women, and nonbinary individuals is seen as unattractive, unhygienic, and unacceptable. I want people to feel free to do what they want with their bodies this summer and every summer. Body hair is a personal choice. Shaving it, waxing it, or growing it are all valid, and all up to the individual."
Armitage and Billie cofounder Georgina Gooley are well aware that some people will be uncomfortable with the campaign's visuals — but that's exactly why they think it's necessary. "Women are just opting to keep their hair, similar to how a man might like to shave his beard or not," Gooley told Refinery29. "As we see more of this imagery, and as society becomes more accepting that the choice shouldn't be imposed on women, hopefully, we will see all types of body hair, and it’ll get to a point where, whether you see it or not, you won't be raising your eyebrows."
Watch the "Red, White, And You Do You" video below, and if you're someone who prefers shaving some of your body hair, you can get your own Billie razors mybillie.com.
More on body hair:
- We Shot 14 Beautiful Portraits of Women's Arm Hair
- Julia Roberts Says Her Underarm Hair at Notting Hill's Premiere "Wasn't a Statement"
- Rihanna Showed Off Her Leg Hair on Instagram
Want less leg hair? Here are all the ways to remove it:
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