JCPenney Commercial 2016 – Here I Am

JCPenney launched the full-figure ‘Here I Am’ line and an empowering ad, starring Gabi Fresh, Valerie Sagun, Jes Baker, Mary Lambert, and Ashley Nell Tipton, to exemplify the spirit and beauty found inside everybody, regardless of their dress size.
All five plus-size women share their child memories, thoughts and experiences about their body image, and recommend others to let go of negative perceptions.
“Would my life be better if I were thinner? No, but it would be better if I wasn’t treated so poorly because I’m not. I’ve never been as the
fifth grader called hippo and that was a very scary thing for me and something that I was spending my entire life trying to change”, says Jes Baker, best-selling author and fierce body advocate.
“Remember when I was 10, I wanted to be a singer and I remember a family member telling me: <sorry, kid, you know, it’s not going to happen for you>”, recalls the Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Mary Lambert.
“In high school I was one of those girls who was like <I would be so much prettier if I were thin>. If I could just reach that one last level, my life would be perfect”, shares Gabi Fresh, OG style blogger and designer, her feelings from teenage years.
“I was a target for people to make fun of or, you know, bash. I didn’t know what was wrong with me, like why was I so different”, says Ashley Nell Tipton, designer and fashion reality show winner, who creates now lines for JCPenney.
“There’s like the stereotype of yoga, where you have to be like the skinny perfect body, which bond each kind of woman. I definitely have not that”, says Valerie Sagun, yoga practitioner.
The video continues with another series of avowals and statements meant to empower all plus-size women and to learn to love themselves.
“We’re countering a lifetime of learning hatred”.
“You can’t love your body for what you hope it turns into without actively loving it for what it is today”.
“The only person who should be defining me is me”.
“Fat girls can do whatever they want”.
“You can do yoga. You can do rock climbing”.
“Fat girls can run, fat girls can dance, fat girls can have amazing jobs”.
“We can walk runways, we can be on the cover of magazines, wear stripes, bright colors”.
“I thought I couldn’t wear a bikini. I can. I’m gonna love it”.
“We’re not shy, we’re not trying to hide. I’m beautiful, I am sexy, I am everything”.
“There’s no ignoring this, really, when it walks into the heart. That’s a pretty powerful thing for me, especially when you’ve been told your entire life, that you need to hide or shrink or disappear”.
“Even if I lost a hundred pounds tomorrow, I would still be Gabi Fresh, I would still be the same person I am now”.
“My size isn’t an indicator of my worth”.
“The bodies don’t need to change. The attitude does”.
“I’ve spent so many years feeling uncomfortable in my own skin. It’s time for me to be happy and never have to look back”.
“So go out in a bikini to the beach, go travelling around the world, and tell that guy you think he’s cute. You can be confident and feel good in your skin right now”.
“It’s really up to us to change the narrative and to share photos of ourselves, follow each other and show each other that this is what women look like”.
“We are breaking the Internet”.
“Loving yourself is not a destination, it’s a journey”.