Oh Polly sorry for separate plus-sized Instagram account

Image copyrightGetty Images

Online fashion brand Oh Polly has said sorry for making a separate Instagram account for plus-sized models.

“Oh Polly Inclusive” was spotted by people including YouTuber Alissa Ashley, who called it “segregation”.

The company initially defended the decision in a tweet, saying it was “celebrating a wider range of people in our community”.

But the new account has now been taken down and the brand has apologised for “a serious error of judgement”.

Skip Twitter post by @alissa_ashleyy

What in the segregation is this. What makes these women not suitable for your main page @ohpolly ？ Ohpollyinclusive？ Who approved this？ pic.twitter.com/2HXujEE9j9

— Alissa Ashley (@alissa_ashleyy) May 13, 2019

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End of Twitter post by @alissa_ashleyy

Alissa, who has almost two million subscribers on YouTube, tweeted: What makes these women not suitable for your main page @ohpolly？ Ohpollyinclusive？ Who approved this？

“Like imagine calling yourselves inclusive and not wanting to post women that don't fit your 'aesthetic' on your brand page lmao,” she wrote.

Another Twitter user commented: “If you wanted to be 'inclusive' wouldn't you put these beautiful women on your main page？ Just a question.”

Another felt that the brand had missed the point of diversity entirely.

“This is soo bizarre!! @ohpolly @ohpollyhelp you could have just done without the page？ If you truly wanted to be inclusive you would feature them on your main page？ It's disgusting. People are so focused on appearing to be inclusive that they miss the point.”

Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption Oh Polly have dressed celebrities like Jordyn Woods

The Oh Polly Inclusive account also featured the phrase “Zero % Tolerance, 100% inclusive”, which left some confused.

Skip Twitter post by @RavenElyseTV

The phrase “zero percent tolerance” literally means “we are not tolerant” which seems like the opposite of being inclusive？ What were they even trying to say？ Im very confused？ Lmao

— RAVEN ELYSE (@RavenElyseTV) May 14, 2019

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End of Twitter post by @RavenElyseTV

Fellow beauty guru Jackie Aina simply tweeted the phrase “Zero% tolerance” - and in a different post said: “I see what they're trying to do but I'm not a fan of this... strategy.”

In a statement to Radio 1 Newsbeat, a spokesperson for Oh Polly said: We established a new page with the specific aim of allowing our customers to discuss a wider range of issues.

Improving diversity remains an absolute priority for us across all of our channels.

“We promise to continue listening to everyone in the Oh Polly community and, most importantly, learn from this mistake.”

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