Facebook Apologises After Banning Ad With Plus-Sized Model

[caption id="attachment_8660" align="alignnone" width="695"]Image Credit: Tess Holliday's Facebook pageTess Holliday. plus-size model[/caption]

Facebook has apologized after blocking an Australian ad featuring a bikini-clad plus-sized model wearing a bikini.

The social networking giant recently came under fire for blocking the ad for Melbourne’s “Cherchez La Femme: Feminism and Fat” gathering, saying the image violated its advertising guidelines.

The Australian group, tried to place an ad to promote body-positive event ‘Feminism and Fat’ which included a picture of Holliday as the main image on the event page.

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According to the group Facebook allowed the event page to stay up, but said the ad wouldn’t be promoted because it “depicts a body… in an undesirable manner”.

Tess Holliday
Tess Holliday’s plus-size Ads Photo  / Credit: Cherchez La Femme

After the ad was disallowed, one of the Cherchez la Femme organisers posted their disgust on its Facebook page, saying: “We’re raging pretty hard over here.

“To my surprise, Facebook rejected my boosted ad request because it promoted an ‘idealised physical image’. I appealed this decision through Facebook, thinking that someone must have gotten a little confused about what we were doing by using an image of the divine Tess Holliday for the event banner.

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“But no, Facebook responded by telling me that the ad wasn’t approved because the image contravened their ‘health and fitness policy’, and that I should instead consider replacing this image with one of a ‘relevant activity, such as running or riding a bike

“Facebook has ignored the fact that our event is going to be discussing body positivity… and has instead come to the conclusion that we’ve set out to make women feel bad about themselves by posting an image of a wonderful plus sized woman.”

After numerous criticism’s international, Facebook has now reinstated the advert and claiming it had been mistakenly censored.

“Our team processes millions of advertising images each week and in some instances we incorrectly prohibit ads,” Facebook was quoted as saying.

“This image does not violate our ad policies. We apologise for the error and have let the advertiser know we are approving their ad,” the company added

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Before it apologized, Facebook recommended Cherchez La Femme replace the photo of “body positive activist” and model Tess Holliday with someone “running or riding a bike.”

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