The two young women have been spreading the body positivity message online for half a decade now, growing their audience immensely over the years. Currently, their accounts on Instagram and TikTok add up to millions of followers, and their names are known beyond the bounds of social media.
Talking about the very beginning, Denise Mercedes told Bored Panda in an interview back in 2020 that it all started when she uploaded a picture of them posing with the same bikini. “It did so well and people reacted so positively to it that we continued doing it here and there,” she said.
Denise continued to share that when the follower count started to grow and TikTok became more and more popular, they decided to try their luck on the platform, where their first video got over 1.5 million views. “Once TikTok had become popular, we decided to do a fun video and that’s when it went viral,” Denice recalled.
That’s when the duo decided to start adding a hashtag when sharing their content and to begin a body positivity movement, which is now known as ‘Style, Not Size’.
Denise and Maria are not the only ambassadors of body positivity movements online, as such movements—often presented using the hashtag #BOPO—seem to have been gaining interest and popularity in recent years.
Be that as it may, the efforts towards spreading the body positivity message are not equally well-received among all social media users, as some groups still feel underrepresented.
According to the audience research company GWI, the majority of social media posts that use hashtags related to body positivity feature young, white, non-disabled females, who are usually roughly 33 years of age or younger. That leaves groups that do not fit the demographic not fully convinced that the efforts to demonstrate body inclusivity are genuine.
GWI data from 2022 shows that the group that seems to be convinced of the efforts to demonstrate body inclusivity being genuine the most is gym-goers, 64% of whom share such views. They are followed by luxury clothing buyers (61%) and people between the ages of 16 and 25 (57%), leaving those with a physical disability (44%) or people between 46 and 60 year olds (42%) less convinced.
GWI also revealed what people would like to see more of, in regards to brands and retailers and body positivity – their data shows that the most desirable thing on the list is more inclusive sizes offered to buyers, followed by a wider range of body types in their advertising. People would also reportedly like to see more size-inclusive mannequins in their stores, as well as less touch ups or editing in their pictures featuring models, and fewer filters on social media posts.
It’s evident that society wants to see more people of all shapes and sizes represented in both brands’ advertising and their products; and hopefully, with the help of projects such as ‘Style, Not Size’, more and more retailers will take that into account, and more importantly, put it into action.
Earlier this year, the other half of the duo, Maria Castellanos, told Bored Panda that she is proud that their project has managed to change the situation for the better. "[‘Style, Not Size’] has been such an opportunity not just for us but for all women and men who feel excluded by the fashion industry," she said, adding that they have been able to change the approach to inclusivity in some of today's [renowned] fashion brands.
