Lingerie Store Removes Rib-Protruding Mannequin After Twitter Outrage

By Gillian Mohney May 14, 2014

The upscale lingerie store La Perla came under fire this week after a photo of a store mannequin with protruding ribs went viral on the Internet.

The picture snapped at the New York store by a Twitter user named Michael Rudoy showed a mannequin in the store window in red lingerie with protruding ribs.

Quickly the picture started to make the rounds across the Internet with many users calling the mannequin too thin and a bad message for people with eating disorders. The Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness tweeted that the mannequin was "terrible!"

Even some people in the fashion industry used to seeing wafer-thin figures wrote that the mannequin went too far. Louise O'Reilly, a plus-sized model from England wrote that she was "shocked" after seeing the picture.

Seth Matlins, a marketer and organizer of the "Truth in Advertising Act," which aims to curb overzealous photoshopping, angrily responded that it was a "#horrible mannequin" and signed his tweet with a trending hashtag "#notbuyingit." Enough users inundated the La Perla social team with the complaints that the company quickly responded.

After the online outcry, La Perla released a statement that it had taken down the mannequin and would not use it in any other store.

"We are in the process of redesigning all La Perla stores with a new concept image and the mannequins that are currently displayed in our US stores will no longer be used," read the statement. "We appreciate and value everyone's comments, thank you for bringing this to our attention."