In 2016, Uniqlo initiated an advertising campaign called “100 breasts”. “100 breasts” campaign invited 100 women with different cultural backgrounds to draw a diagram of their breasts on paper and comment on their breasts in front of the camera. These invited females have different jobs, body shapes, habits and dressing styles, but all of them said they are happy with their breasts and consider them unique. Predictably, the fundamental concept of this campaign was that “every female is different and every female is beautiful”. The designer of BRA TOP from Uniqlo also said that Uniqlo hopes to encourage females to love their bodies through this campaign.
This campaign focuses on breasts, a sensitive and intimate topic for most women. Still, these interview videos were natural and vibrant, representing the women’s confidence and their relaxing and healthy style, which helped avoid possible sexual innuendo and shaming. Each of the 100 women was proud of their breasts, and many of the females in the video believed that small breasts are beautiful, less burdensome than big breasts, being natural is more important than being sexy etc. These comments highly match the usual impression of Uniqlo’s bra.
However, Uniqlo’s bra has always been popular with female consumers because they are steel ring free, comfortable to wear, have a wide size range to suit all figures. However, Uniqlo’s bra has also been criticized for its poor shaping effect on the breasts and not looking good when worn. Through this campaign, Uniqlo has responded to past criticism and emphasized the brand’s design concept.
This campaign asked every female to draw their breast shapes, which conveyed that no woman’s breasts are precisely the same; 100 women will look in 100 different ways. The drawing represented that the ‘differences’ directly to other consumers and elicited the design of the BRA TOP series. BRA TOP’s design aimed to suit every woman’s breast shape, fitting their curves perfectly without being tight and at the same time revealing the beauty of the breasts’ curves. Besides, this campaign also invited these women to describe their careers and lifestyles, which represented that any job in any lifestyle can wear Uniqlo’s bra. It can be very relaxing and comfortable for their breasts, reflecting the practicality and comfort of their product. This campaign represented that the BRA TOP series is not about creating fake beauty but instead emphasizing that women’s breasts are implicitly beautiful and comfortable.
At the same time, this campaign tried to convey to the audience that women’s futures do not have to be defined by society’s rules and that their breasts should not be constrained by underwear. Women are attracted when they think they are natural and confident; breasts are also identical. Women should not be defined by fairness, cuteness or thinness, nor should women’s breasts should not be limited by being big, firm or sexy. These women in the video are confident and honest in describing their breasts and accepting them as they are in their most natural state. Although the videos did not directly feature Uniqlo’s BRA TOP products, they conveyed the brand’s respect for the diverse aesthetics of women. They encouraged women to be confident in their bodies. Whether large or small breast, tall or short, fat or thin, with a variety of career and habits, BRA TOP fits everyone. In this campaign’s video, women are no longer bothered by various problems such as small breasts and enlargement; then, consumers may dare to stop wearing tight bras and replace them with comfortable BRA TOP products.
Link of the “100 breasts” video: