You may recall that we closed out last Saturday's broadcast highlighting Melissa's "Foot Soldier," 14-year-old Julia Bluhm who through petitioning and protesting moved Seventeen magazine to issue a "Body Peace Treaty" -- promising to not alter girls bodies and faces in their magazine.
Two New York girls, 16-year-old Carina Cruz and 17-year-old Emma Stydahar, decided to take the fight today to another magazine's front door. Carrying "Keep it Real" signs and strutting on a homemade red carpet, the girls staged a protest outside Teen Vogue's office in Times Square.
Inspired by Julia's success with Seventeen, Carina and Emma also have started their own Change.org petition, and already have over 28,000 signatures.
Teen Vogue publicist Erin Kaplan provided a statement to Change.org which read:
"Teen Vogue makes a conscious and continuous effort to promote a positive body image among our readers. We feature healthy models on the pages of our magazine and shoot dozens of nonmodels and readers every year and do not retouch them to alter their body size. Teen Vogue pledges to continue this practice."
Those words weren't enough for the two organizers of the petition, who according to the Associated Press, would like to see a pledge in writing in the pages of Teen Vogue.
Teen Vogue would be wise to listen to the requests of these girls. As Melissa mentioned in her "Foot Soldiers" segment, girls around the country are watching. The magazines need girls like Julia, Carina, and Emma a lot more than those girls need Seventeen or Teen Vogue.