A British model has claimed the Spanish government did not even ask before using her image in its new body positivity campaign.
‘Summer is ours too,’ the slogan reads in a highly praised move away from ‘beach ready’ beauty standards.
But Nyome Nicholas-Williams, known as Curvy Nyome on Instagram, said she only found out about the poster – featuring five women of different shapes and races – when her aunt messaged to congratulate her.
‘It is just a reminder that as a black woman my body is still policed and as women in general our bodies are still not ours,’ she said, telling Metro.co.uk that neither Spain’s Ministry of Equality, nor the artist, contacted her about the illustration.
‘I didn’t have any control over how my body was being used in the image, so I was really sad initially. Then, I felt really angry.’
She added: ‘You can see it’s me. I have family members getting in touch to say “well done”. What is going on here?’
Nyome also fears the other models, including one who proudly shows her mastectomy scars, may not have been asked for permission either.
‘I really wish that I recognised the rest of the women as we could have banded like the Spice Girls and take on the Spanish government,’ she added.
Commonly avoided in advertising campaigns, the illustration shows women baring their stretchmarks, cellulite and body hair.
But one of the women, sitting on the beach in a gold bikini, is exceptionally similar to a photo Nyome shared on Instagram back in May.
While it is a good cause, the activist and ambassador for homelessness charity Crisis stressed she deserved to be asked for consent and paid.
‘I have been through this before and I had to fight so hard to get acknowledged and paid, and they still didn’t pay me what I was worth,’ she said.
After taking to social media this morning, Nyome said the artist got in touch with her, offering to compensate her.
‘This is laughable,’ she said. ‘They could have done that before. It is reactive, not proactive. It is great that you want to pay me now but it is because you feel like you are in trouble.’
She is yet to hear back from the Spanish government, but her modelling agency has taken over the issue.
Nyome confirmed she would have participated in the campaign if she had been asked in advance.
The campaign, which Nyome said is ‘great’, has received praise for being a far cry from the infamous 2015 ad, which asked commuters on the London Underground if they were ‘beach body ready’.
Ione Belarra, the minister for social rights in the Socialist-led Podemos party, said about the campaign: ‘All bodies are beach bodies’.
‘All bodies are valid and we have the right to enjoy life as we are, without guilt or shame. Summer is for everyone.’
Metro.co.uk has made attempts to contact the Ministry of Equality and the artist behind the illustration for comment.
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