Asher Nash, a 16-month-old from Georgia, is the new face of OshKosh B’Gosh’s holiday ad campaign, even after he was rejected by a talent agency because of his Down syndrome.
The boy’s mom, Meagan, submitted Asher’s photos to a talent agency in October when she spotted a casting call for child models to appear in an OshKosh clothing campaign.
“When Asher was little, we realized he really likes the camera. He loves the attention,” Meagan told NBC.
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After Meagan submitted Asher’s photos to the agency, she received an email from an agent saying they wouldn’t send Asher’s application to the apparel company because the casting call didn’t specify for models with special needs.
Meagan asked the agent whether the casting call specified “no children with special needs.”
The agent said that wasn’t the case but was assuming Carter’s wouldn’t want differently-abled models.
Upset but undeterred, Meagan turned to Facebook and shared Asher’s headshots.
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“We aren’t giving up!” she wrote. “This handsome boy is ready to show the world what #ChangingTheFaceOfBeauty is!”
Her post was picked up by various Facebook pages and shared widely to the point where it caught the attention of the chief executive at OshKosh.
Asher was eventually signed as a model for the company’s holiday ad campaign and advocates are pleased to see an example of inclusion within mainstream media.
“When you see a kid like Asher Nash as the face of OshKosh, you’re speaking to one in five American families out there that actually have a disability in their family,” Kate Driscoll, founder of Changing the Face of Beauty, told NBC. “It’s about communicating to this large community — 1.3 billion people globally have a disability.”