A picture of a Swedish mannequin has been spreading like wildfire over the Internet. Now it and the boutique using it are being celebrated. The reason? She is not as stick thin as her “colleagues,” but has a bit more heft. In reality she looks like a regular woman.
Actually, the image was first published in the fall of 2010 by Rebecka, a blogger in Malmö, on the blog Becka.nu, but it was just recently snapped up by the Facebook group “Women’s Rights News.” In a matter of days, the mannequin received close to 60,000 likes and was shared by nearly 18,000 Facebook users. Many commented that they would like other clothing boutiques to use similar mannequins. “It would get many women to feel better about themselves,” one person writes. Another writes: “Sweden is light years ahead of North America.” Media like Fox News, Huffington Post, Daily Mail and MSN News, have also picked up the story. What boutique is it that’s using the bigger sized mannequin? Unlike what some reports have stated, it is not H&M but the Åhléns department store. “Since many years ago we have mannequins of all sizes, because our customers come in different sizes,” says Therèse Johnsson Sundberg,” substituting director of information at Åhléns to daily Aftonbladet. “For us this is just natural, we try to mirror what society looks like.” Ann Almqvist, director at Åhléns Malmö says to TV’s Sydnytt that her particular store has had the mannequins for several years. “I’m not surprised (by the popularity), but I am happy (the mannequins) are getting all this attention.” Blogger Rebecka says she posted the image on her blog in 2010: “But someone must have just now found the image and liked it. I hope more stores will buy similar mannequins.”