The women’s institute, part of Spain’s equality ministry, emailed all three models to “sincerely apologize” for a poster that purported to encourage women of all shapes and sizes to be proud of their bodies. Instead, the institute and Arte Mapache, the artist who created the poster, drew outrage from the women featured because their images were used without permission and in two cases significantly altered. Cancer survivor Juliet Fitzpatrick became the third woman to complain about the poster since it appeared last week, saying the image created “a bit of Frankenstein” by placing a photographic portrait of her face on the body of another woman who appears to have had a mastectomy. Fitzpatrick, whose face appears on an upright body to the left of the beach poster, had two mastectomies, one in March 2017 and another in November 2018, and has since campaigned for the visibility of women who have had their breasts removed . Fitzpatrick, who showed off her scars as part of a project called Defiance in 2019, said it was unacceptable for her image to be “used and shredded”. Photo: Amy Barwell/PA Wire Speaking to the Guardian she said: “The face reminds me of me, but this is not my body. I don’t have breasts, and this one has one. The thought of my face being in a one-breasted woman’s body is quite upsetting.” The institute apologized to Fitzpatrick, as well as Sian Green-Lord, who was left shaking with anger after the poster showed her image with her prosthetic leg, and Nyome Nicholas-Williams, the first of the three models who complained that her image had been used without consent. The email said: “We were not aware that images of real women had been used. We sincerely apologize for any damages that may have been caused to you. The goal of our campaign is to recognize the diversity of the body in all its dimensions and we will be happy to work with you in any related action.” In a statement the institute added: “The institute wishes to clarify that at no time was it aware that the women in the images were real persons. The task assigned was the elaboration of an illustration, without the use of models. The institute, as an aggrieved party, contacted the models to clarify the situation and are waiting for the illustrator and the models to reach an agreement.” Mapache apologized last week for using images of women without permission. But he has yet to personally apologize to the women involved. Fitzpatrick said: “I’ve done a lot of campaigning anyway about women’s choice after mastectomy and increasing the visibility of women who have had a mastectomy and choose to stay flat, whether it’s one breast or no breast.” “I find that they used my image without asking because all the work I’ve done on other campaigns has been so airtight in terms of rights. It is not acceptable to use and shred. Subscribe to First Edition, our free daily newsletter – every morning at 7am. BST He added: “I worked on a Dove campaign with Getty Images which was specifically against digital distortion of images. This person has learned nothing from it. I think it completely invalidates the whole campaign.” Fitzpatrick, who has been in touch with Green-Lord and Nicholas-Williams since the image emerged, said she would consider posing for an accurate version of the poster image. He said: “It’s not a bad idea. I think Nyome may have said, “I’d be very happy to come to Spain, maybe with the others, and recreate this thing,” but that may have been an offhand remark. She added: “The controversy has definitely highlighted the need for body diversity and body positivity.”