Earlier this month, U.K.-based lingerie and swimwear brand Curvy Kate debuted a beautiful campaign for Scantilly, a boudoir-inspired lingerie collection for women with cup sizes DD to HH. The campaign featured a diverse cast of non-professional models gathered from Curvy Kate's followers on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Interviews with the women accompanied the photos, which were first posted on Curvy Kate's blog July 6, and were soon picked up by major media outlets like Cosmopolitan.com, Yahoo News, and Buzzfeed.

Hoping to capitalize on the campaign's success, Curvy Kate paid to promote Scantilly on Facebook. On Tuesday, July 19, the DearScantilly Facebook page was promoted using this group shot from the campaign:

Curvy Kate

According to Hannah Isichei, Curvy Kate's head of PR and marketing who spoke with Cosmopolitan.com over the phone, the promotion was hugely successful, garnering hundreds of positive engagements.

The following day, Curvy Kate paid to promote a post about one of the models from the campaign: 21-year-old trans woman Effie Van Cluysen.

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The post performed well for about half a day before it and the group shot from the day before were both flagged by Facebook. Although the posts were not removed from Curvy Kate's Scantilly Facebook page, Facebook was no longer promoting them.

According to Facebook, the Curvy Kate's content violated Facebook's Advertising Policy, which states that Facebook does not "allow ads that promote sexual acts, sexual videos and publications (ex: magazines, blogs, Pages), strip clubs, or adult shows."

Curvy Kate

Curvy Kate reached out to Facebook to appeal the decision, arguing that the posts had been unfairly categorized. Because the message was sent through a proprietary Facebook messaging system and not through email, Curvy Kate does not have a copy of the exact appeal, but, according to Isichei, it was something along the lines of:

"We're aiming to challenge social 'norms.' #TheNewSexy calls for women of all shapes, backgrounds and sizes to be represented in the media and looks to redefine how society views the word 'sexy.' You can read about the blog here: http://www.curvykate.com/blog/ and hopefully understand more about what we are trying to do. There is nothing I would like to change about these images or text. Please respond to me about the next steps."

It has been a week since Curvy Kate reached out to Facebook. So far there has been no response.

On Thursday, July 21, Curvy Kate promoted another post:

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This too was soon flagged by Facebook, which cited "sexual suggestions and negative comments" as the reason for the action.

The staff at Curvy Kate looked through their personal Facebook feeds, curious about what other brands were doing in the same space. They found promotional images similar to the ones of theirs that had been rejected and posted screenshots of these promoted posts on their blog in protest.

Curvy Kate

"It seems to me that the ads were banned because the models are different," Isichei said. "We don't use professional models, so the ads will never look like other ads. It is so important though. If we're only shown one type of image, how will we ever change the public's perception of the norm?"

Since being flagged again on the 21st, Curvy Kate has been unable to promote any posts on Facebook whatsoever, although, according to Isichei, they still receive regular notifications from Facebook encouraging them to pay to promote more posts.

Cosmopolitan.com has reached out to Facebook for comment.

Update 7/28, 11:20 a.m.: As of this morning, Facebook has reinstated the above-mentioned posts on Curvy Kate's Scantilly Facebook page. They did so without comment or explanation.

Update 7/28, 3:15 p.m.: Facebook spokesperson replied to Cosmopolitan.com's request for a comment: "Our team processes millions of advertising images each week, and in some instances we incorrectly prohibit ads. This image does not violate our ad policies. We apologize for the error and have let the advertiser know we are approving their ad."

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Charles Manning Style Director I'm 30 percent bunnies, 40 percent of the time.

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