Models: The Power & Responsibility of Imagery

There is a responsibility that comes with putting imagery out into the digital world.

Yet a lot of brands turn their heads from this because portraying a specific standard of ‘beauty’ helps make money. They use models who represent a tiny portion of the population aesthetically – usually long-limbed, very slim, with airbrushed skin absent of the effects of living etc - to tell us that we should want to look like them… and if we buy the product on offer then we will.

Despite how they’re presented, the person underneath may not feel as happy as they look and, deep down, we all know that even the models themselves don’t look like the photographs. It’s a digitalised version of them that’s been curated, angled and edited to perpetuate a continuous cycle of sales… by ensuring nobody feels happy with the way they look! Because insecure people are easier to sell more to.

The price we pay is not just whatever we hand over in exchange for a product… the true cost is our mental well-being; our sense of self; our connection to others through our ability to appreciate their natural beauty.

It doesn’t have to be this way though and we refuse to conform in the hope of selling more. Our models are staff members, friends and family. They’re real folk passionate about nurturing an appreciation of beauty in the everyday - not just on the outside but on the inside too – and genuinely reflecting the community and fostering a society that isn’t obsessed with looks.

Your value does not come from your physical form. We want to help folk build resilience to digital content that tells them otherwise. We hope that people can see themselves in our imagery and feel reassured that they are enough just the way they are. That’s the face of Prickly. What you see is what you get. We call it our ‘Rebel Realness’.

With love,

Clare and the team

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