Way back in November David M. sent in another example of the tendency to conflate curves with women of color. This ad for a bodyshaper that appeared in the magazine i-on Glasgow (via wishiwerebaking on Flickr) says that wearing their product will give you “Latino curves,” and the code for the discount is “Latino” (which perhaps should be “Latina,” but we have much bigger issues than that to deal with).

I’m putting it after a jump because one reader said it was slightly NSFW or, more specifically, some public libraries; it’s an image of a woman in a strapless bra and body shaper, so you don’t see any nudity.

This appears to be the company’s entire marketing scheme; I went to their website and the banner invites you to “Discover the secret of Sexy Latino Curves.” It took me a while to figure out the connection, but the About Us page explains:

Real Body Shapers was launched in 2009 by Dr Raquel Borges, a Latin American medic and Complementary Therapist living in Scotland. Originally from Venezuela, Dr Raquel knows body shapers are the confidence secret of all those sexy Latin American women.

Dr. Raquel helpfully continues,

“When I wear the body shaper, I feel instantly slimmer, curvier and more confident. I believe all women should experience that confidence. We are all under such pressure to achieve the so-called ‘perfect’ body, which is unattainable and goes against natural femininity. I say life’s too short not to take a little shortcut to sexy curves and super confidence. I just wear a body shaper and go join the fiesta …”

So on the one hand, bodyshapers make you instantly sexier, and being curvy is a characteristic of Latinas. But on the other hand, trying to meet that body shape is impossible and even unnatural…so you need to buy a product that does it for you. Problem fixed!

Incidentally, they have a couple of products for men. It’s not clear if wearing them makes men more Latino, as well.

UPDATE: A reader comments,

I’m tired of this “Latinos generalization”, I live in Latin America and here we are really different, there are people that are white, black, asian, amerindian, fat, thin, curvy, tall, short, smart, dumb etc… We aren’t just “People of color.”