ITV launch Body Stories 2023 campaign with Loose Women

Today, Loose Women announces the return of its award-winning Body Stories campaign to celebrate body diversity and highlight the importance of representation, as 75 per cent of viewers admit they avoid looking in the mirror because of how it makes them feel about their body.

Loose Women Editor Sally Shelford:

“Loose Women’s Body Stories campaign was originally launched in 2017 to inspire and promote body confidence for all of our viewers. We are so proud that it is returning for International Women’s Day with a powerful, joyful shoot and an equally powerful message on the importance of celebrating and seeing body diversity.”

This year’s ‘Celebrating Every Body’ campaign sees a host of the UK’s most recognisable female faces and Loose Women panellists including Carol McGiffin, Dame Kelly Holmes, Gloria Hunniford OBE, Judi Love, Katie Piper OBE and Sophie Morgan take part in an inspiring Body Stories photo shoot for the first time, as well as candidly share their own body stories.

Marking International Women’s Day next Wednesday (8th March), a Loose Women Body Stories special will air at 12.30pm on ITV1, STV and ITVX, continuing the campaign’s pledge to lead the conversation on the issues affecting women’s body confidence today.

An exclusive Loose Women survey reveals six in 10 women still don’t think there is enough body diversity in the media and despite almost half (42%) believing representation has improved in the past five years, they agree there is still a long way to go.

Highlighting the importance of ‘Celebrating Every Body’, the new research finds that more than three quarters (78%) agreed it’s important to see relatable body types in the media – including older women, disabled women and those from different ethnic backgrounds. 65 per cent of those polled, respectively attribute this to normalising differences and encouraging acceptance. The findings also revealed over half (57%) say they have no body confidence but more than a fifth (23%) would feel better about themselves if they saw people they identify with in the media.

The survey was conducted by 72Point in February 2023, it asked 2,000 UK: Women 18+

A further 65% admitted lack of body confidence has stopped them from doing things they’d like to, such as going swimming (58%) and wearing activewear (39%) – with a quarter (24%) blaming a general lack of confidence in themselves and one in five (18%) putting it down to feeling insecure about their body.

The campaign promo premiered on ITV1/STV this evening, to announce the campaign and in it, Katie Piper OBE can be heard saying: “Change doesn’t happen from one person, it happens from a group of people who have the same passion” whilst Dame Kelly Holmes explains: “For me it’s about being comfortable with who I am. We all deserve to live the life we want to live.”

With seven in ten (70%) of our viewers also confessing that they avoid having their photo taken due to a lack of body confidence, our Loose Women panel exclusively stand together for the striking new ‘Body Stories’ imagery – brought to life by highly acclaimed female photographer Yolanda Y Liou – in a bid to help viewers feel seen and represented.

Yolanda’s previous work, which often explores body image and her own experiences of feeling unconfident in her appearance, has previously been exhibited in the National Portrait Gallery, as well as having been shortlisted for the prestigious Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize.

During the Loose Women Body Stories special on International Women’s Day, we’ll hear from Carol McGiffin as she speaks honestly about surviving breast cancer and undergoing a mastectomy, broadcasting legend Gloria Hunniford OBE as she talks passionately about the need to see older women in the media and how attitude is everything! Plus, Judi Love, discusses the beauty of seeing different body types represented in all their forms.

Disability campaigner Sophie Morgan will share her powerful story of body acceptance and how she’s adapted and embraced life with a disability, as she now feels stronger than ever. Katie Piper OBE will also inspirationally express the need for greater inclusion of facial disfigurements on our screens as a result of her own lived experiences and Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes will movingly reveal her journey from double-gold medallist to LGBT+ champion.

Since then, the campaign has tackled a range of topics affecting our body confidence today, from photo editing to social media filters, to encouraging body acceptance one conversation at a time, as well as inviting a host of famous men to take part in a body positivity shoot, shot by award-winning photographer Rankin.

Watch the Loose Women Body Stories special on Wednesday 8th March at 12.30pm on ITV1, STV & ITVX