(CNN) ––
Three women who believe their images were used in a "body positivity" campaign in Spain say the material was handled and edited without their permission.
They include a woman whose prosthetic leg was removed from the photo and another who believes her face was edited into the body of a woman with a mastectomy.
The Spanish Ministry of Equality launched last Wednesday the summer campaign, which presents five women of different ages and ethnicities on a beach with the slogan: "Summer is also ours".
'A summer for all': Spain launches body positivity campaign on the beach
But days after the launch, some of the women whose bodies appeared in the campaign said they were not asked if their images could be used.
Sian Lord, a British model and motivational speaker, said she "shivered with rage" when she saw her image had been included in the ad and was edited without her prosthetic leg, British newspapers reported.
Meanwhile, Juliet FitzPatrick, a British writer who underwent a double mastectomy, said she believed her "face may have been used and superimposed on the woman with only one breast".
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"Can you tell me what images were used to make this woman? I have no breasts and it bothers me if my face has been put on a body that has one," FitzPatrick wrote to the ministry via Twitter on Sunday.
"I got messages on Saturday, from Twitter and Instagram, asking if I was the person in the ad, the one with the mastectomy. And I looked at it and thought no, it's not really me, mainly because I don't have breasts," FitzPatrick told her. to CNN.
FitzPatrick, who had one breast removed in 2016 and the second in 2017, told CNN that she was later contacted by photographer Ami Barwell, who told her she believed the artist had used a photo Barwell took of FitzPatrick for her series of photos "Mastectomy".
"We're reasonably sure it's my face superimposed on another photo she took of another woman with a breast," FitzPatrick explained.
"This made me quite angry at first, because you can't just use other people's images. And it also upset me because I lived with one breast for about 18 months and I really hated it," she added.
"I think it actually invalidates the whole campaign and what they're trying to do, because it's about body positivity, about being comfortable in your body. You know, there's no need to hide things," he said.
"And actually, what they've done is they've taken women's bodies and used them however they want. They cut them up, however they wanted. Because, of course, Sian actually has a prosthetic leg, but They took it away and replaced it with a flesh and bone leg," he added.
The human body is often seen through the male lens.
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FitzPatrick's messages came after British model Nyome Nicholas-Williams said she was tipped off last week that an image of her in a bikini had been used in the ad without her consent.
Nicholas-Williams encouraged his Instagram followers to "keep up the conversation so the Government of Spain can understand how bad this is."
He also spoke of the importance of consent.
The artist, known as Arte Mapache, dealt with the controversy with an apology on Twitter on Thursday.
"First of all, I would like to publicly apologize to the models for taking inspiration from their photography for the 'Summer Is Ours Too' campaign and using an unlicensed typeface (I thought it was free)."
Arte Mapache added that after the "justified" controversy over the illustration, "I believe that the best way to repair the damage that may have been caused by my conduct is to equally distribute the benefits obtained from this work among all the protagonists of the work. and buying the font license (I'm getting happy with everyone to fix this ASAP)".
The artist added that they were paid a total of 4,490 euros ($4,600) for the work.
"It was never my intention to abuse her image, but to transfer to my illustration the inspiration that women like Nyome Nicholas, Raissa Galvão are for me... Her work and her image must be respected. Thank you for your work, even in this case" , he added.
In a tweet, the Women's Institute, an independent body attached to the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, thanked Arte Mapache on Thursday for its "anti-fat-phobia activism" and for recognizing the error of the illustration.
"The Women's Institute wants to clarify that at no time was it aware that the women who appear in the images were real people," a spokesperson for the institute told CNN on Monday.
"The work that was contracted was the elaboration of an illustration, without the use of models. The Women's Institute, as an injured party, has contacted the models to clarify the situation, and they are waiting for the illustrator and the models reach an agreement," they added.
CNN has reached out to Nyome Nicholas-Williams, Sian Lord and Raissa Galvão for comment.
Patrick Sung Cuadrado and Jorge Engels contributed to this report.
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