On Tuesday, 4th
June Speedo Sculpture’s ‘Parade to the Pool’ took place through the streets of
central London. The celebratory parade
of dozens of women in their swimsuits, led by Sculpture ambassador Gabby Logan,
aims to encourage women to stop negative talk about their bodies and tackle the
‘terror’ of getting into swimwear.
Speedo Sculpture and Gabby
are on a mission to get more women to ‘take the plunge’ after new research
shows that consistent ‘fat talk’ is denting women’s confidence and stopping
them getting into the water, with 55% admitting they won’t go swimming due to
the fear of getting into a swimming costume. 84% of women admit to putting
their bodies down through negative talk with a third (31%) saying they only
ever think or say bad things about themselves, 28% admit to doing it daily.
Gabby, the face and body of
the new season’s collection of Sculpture swimwear, comments, “Women in the
public eye and on TV are often scrutinized for how they look so I know how easy
it would be to fall into the trap of taking on board this negativity. The healthiest way for me to deal with it is
by being fit and healthy through activities like swimming, which helps me focus
on what my body can do rather than what it looks like.”
Four members of the public
have been recruited to take part in the ‘Parade to the Pool’, which transforms the
dreaded walk from the changing room to the pool into a celebratory parade of
confidence. The women will receive
personal coaching from a psychologist to tackle their body anxieties before
they undertake the ultimate form of ‘exposure therapy’. They will wear Speedo
Sculpture swimsuits, which help to sculpt and shape the body.
The swimwear parade will
begin at the Speedo store in Covent Garden and go through the streets of London
to a local swimming pool and be complete with a marching band, ticker tape and
full fanfare.
Top psychologist Anjula
Mutanda comments, “Negative talk amongst women about our bodies and looks is so
common and well practiced it seems to happen almost without thinking.
It can be contagious and its easy to spread and reinforce negative messages
amongst ourselves; resulting in avoidance behavior around exposing our bodies.
The good news is that we can take control and shift our mindset from
negative to positive thinking. When you change how you think it will change the
way you feel, and the way you behave.”
Sally Polak, Marketing
Manager, Speedo comments, “Getting women to take the plunge is our mission and
at Speedo we use our 80 plus years of swimwear experience and heritage to
create suits that not only provide support and body sculpting but are genuinely
designed with swimming in mind. Speedo Sculpture suits are functional and look
great and are the perfect choice for the 37% of women that say better fitting
swimwear would help them feel better about their bodies.”
Ben Rogers, Sports Buyer,
John Lewis comments; "The timing of Parade to the Pool is perfect as we
typically see a peak in sales of swimsuits during the first weekend in June. We're
delighted to stock Speedo Sculpture as the May bank holiday traditionally inspires
British women to get into holiday mode with the official start of summer."
Of the women surveyed that said
they try and talk positively about their bodies, nearly 90% agreed that it has
a positive effect on their wellbeing, self-confidence and self-esteem.
Tips
to fight ‘fat talk’ and get you parading to the pool include:
· Stay fit with exercise like
swimming. You’ll stop seeing your body
as purely aesthetic and more about performance and movement
· Don’t overthink things! When
you overthink you’re more likely to stop yourself doing something. Throw off
your towel and parade to the pool instead!
· Fake it until you make it.
Focus on confident body language; keep your shoulders back, make eye contact,
that’s what people will remember
· Surround yourself with
positive friends and people with good self-image. Make each other feel good
· Enhance what’s great about
you. Stop looking at what you hate and start focusing on what you like
· Don’t see your body as
separate from you, it’s part of you and not your enemy
· Manage your expectations of
being judged. Most people aren’t looking anyway!
· Build self-esteem around
what you’re good at, rather than what you look like
· Talk positively about your
body in front of your children. Just as they can learn your positive habits
they can learn your bad habits if you don’t
· Keep a diary as a way to
spot your negative talk
Help and advice from Anjula
Mutanda to stop ‘fat talk’ and be more positive about body image will be
available through the Speedo YouTube and Facebook channels.
You can purchase the Sculpture swimwear here.
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