Should Disney create a plus-size princess? YouTube vlogger Loey Lane launches campaign

Disney princesses traditionally followed a similar format of slim, white women with the likes of Snow White and Belle. In 2009, it stepped outside of the box by introducing Princess Tiana, the first African-American princess, in The Princess And The Frog. There are now calls for the movie studio to create its first plus-size princess but are Disney ready for another change?

YouTube star Loey Lane believes they should be. The beauty vlogger is campaigning for Disney to introduce a princess with curves and she is not being modest with her approach. In October 2016, Lane, 23, filmed a clothing haul in which she wore a Little Mermaid-inspired bikini. Lane told her viewers: "I'm going to live in this for the rest of my life, who am I even kidding? I'm going to be a mermaid princess for the rest of my life."

Lane's subscribers commented that it was time for Disney to consider introducing a plus-size model. One wrote: "That's the one thing Disney is missing now is a plus-size princess, it's so important and hopefully one day they will."

Another commented: "This is so important. Little girls need to know that they are perfect no matter how they look. Everyone is beautiful and telling someone that they are not pretty just because they don't look how they 'should' is a terrible thing to do."

Even if she hadn't realised before, Lane agreed with her viewers. The vlogger later uploaded another video titled The Not So Little Mermaid, which detailed her feelings of watching Disney films as a child and not being able to relate to some of the princesses.

Lane, who counts more than 850,000 subscribers, recalls an incident during a trip to Disney World when a schoolmate switched her name tag from the princess Ariel to witch Ursula from Little Mermaid. Lane said: "The fact that the closest thing to my body that I could get was Ursula just hurt me so badly as a kid."

Continuing her campaign, Lane told Cosmopolitan of Disney's lack of representation of women: "We can't all look exactly the same, and that's a huge reason why I think it's important for there to be more diversity in everything young boys and girls consume. By wearing Disney princess gear, and looking beautiful and amazing, and being our own version of a Disney princess, we're really doing that.

She added: "We have to be vocal and say that it's something that we want and by doing things like wearing Disney princess gear and looking beautiful and amazing and being our own version of a Disney princess. My entire Disney experience has come full-circle from a body-shaming story to something that I'm so confident in and that I love myself in."

Watch Loey Lane's Not So Little Mermaid video: