Should brands use genuinely pregnant women to model maternity wear?

A debate has been sparked on Twitter about whether brands should use pregnant women to model their maternity wear.

The subject was brought to the attention of the Internet after a Twitter user spotted ‘Love Island’ star Arabella Chi appearing to model clothes for an ASOS maternity range.

The user’s tweet sparked a debate about whether it was right to use models who aren’t actually pregnant, and instead use a woman with a fake bump.

Some critics argued brands should use genuinely pregnant women to model maternity wear because aside from the bump, a woman’s body changes in different ways, which would not be represented by a model who wasn’t expecting.

READ MORE: Mum calls out bump shamers after jibes she must be giving birth to a teenager

But others pointed out that standing for long periods of time and going through multiple outfit changes could be uncomfortable for pregnant women.

Though ASOS did not confirm whether the Love Island star was the model in the clothing range, they did explain that they did use prosthetic maternity bumps.

An ASOS spokesperson told Yahoo UK: “We use prosthetic maternity bumps to make it easier for customers to compare fit between different products.”

READ MORE: Meghan Markle's maternity wardrobe: 76 outfits and a combined cost of almost £500,000

It isn’t the first time someone has questioned the brand’s use of ‘fake bumps’.

Back in 2017 parenting blogger Louise Pentland pointed out that some of the models in the maternity range appeared to be wearing fake bumps, suggesting that they weren’t in fact real pregnant women.

“Dear @ASOS, why do you use models with weird fake bumps instead of pregnant models? I’m sure some are pregnant but a lot are fake :(.” she wrote on Twitter.

The brand was quick to reply saying: “Model welfare is important to us. We don’t want pregnant models on their feet all day so we use a prosthetic maternity bump.”

But not everyone was convinced this was a good enough reason with many pointing out that just because a woman is pregnant doesn’t mean she’s incapable of work.

Earlier this year Boohoo was also accused of stuffing models' outfits with padding to sell maternity clothes.

Shoppers took to social media to share images of models wearing outfits they believe have been stuffed, prompting some to question why pregnant models weren't used if this is the case.

What do you think? Should brands use genuinely pregnant women to model their maternity wear?