Mike Tindall has launched a defence of the controversial lingerie campaign starring Team GB players.
British lingerie brand Bluebella launched their #StrongIsBeautiful campaign with rugby sevens stars Jasmine Joyce, Celia Quansah and Ellie Boatman dressed in lacy and cut-out underwear ahead of this month’s Paris Olympics.
The advert strived to highlight that strength and femininity are not mutually exclusive.
It followed statistics from the 2022 Women in Sport survey, which showed over half of secondary schoolgirls drop out of all sports by the age of 16.
British Olympians Sharron Davies and Mara Yamauchi have taken to social media to criticise the campaign, with many labelling the photographs “regressive”.
However, Zara Tindall’s husband has come to Team GB’s defence.
Mike, 45, shared a post on Instagram that said women have a right to create “sexy” campaigns and pointed to the many male sports stars who have done so without any criticism.
The post was originally made by Elma Smit, the host of The Good, Saz, and the Rugby podcast.
Mike Tindall posing with his podcast hosts in their swimwear
Instagram / James Haskell
Smit said: “If you don’t know what this relates to, it’s about a lingerie campaign done by three GB Sevens rugby players that has been described as offensive.
“I find [it] really interesting because no one found Jeremy Allen White’s Calvin Klein campaign offensive.
“FKA Twigs had her version of the same campaign with the same level of sexiness, taken down, and I feel like the same thing is happening here.
“We should allow women firstly to choose to do sexy, fun, playful, campaigns that show the other side of their life.
Mike Tindall and Zara Tindall are very down-to-earth members of the Royal Family
PA
Mike Tindall hit back at the criticism Team GB’s Rugby Sevens lingerie campaign has garnered
PA
“Yes, they’re serious rugby players, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t be sexy lingerie models as well, especially if there’s a paying client involved.
“I think the thing that we gloss over a lot is when we look at these things, is people presuppose a male gaze and exploitation and power being at play, but what if, subjectively, they weren’t even looking to appeal to a male gaze?”
She added in the caption: “If you haven’t seen the lingerie campaign by @bluebella with three members of the GB7s squad… you won’t have seen the backlash it’s got, either… It’s been called offensive, regressive & sexist… and yet, no one cared when a man did the same thing…”
