A weight loss peddler called “The Diet Chef” created an ad utilizing the tired “before and after” trope in which a thinner (and, predictably, much better dressed and groomed) woman talks to a fatter version of herself:
In the advert, the later Cheryl tells her former self: “I know how you feel; you can look that good again, you know,” and “I bought a bikini last week, for the first time since this picture.”
The former Cheryl says: “You look amazing. I never dreamed I could be that slim again.”
Viewers contacted the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) to say that they’re fed up with this “weight loss as the solution” to everything bullshit:
Objecting that the advert was irresponsible for exploiting women’s body insecurities by implying that they needed to be slim to be happy.
The ASA agreed saying that the ad:
“implied that weight loss was the only solution to her problems”.
It went on: “It therefore implied that those with insecurities about their bodies, and particularly their weight, could only achieve happiness and self-confidence through weight loss.
“We therefore concluded that the ad presented a socially irresponsible approach to body image and breached the code.”
It ruled that the advert must not appear again in its current form and told Diet Chef “to ensure that their products were advertised in a socially responsible way”.
This is definitely progress and a huge step in the right direction. The problem is that there is no socially responsible way to talk about weight loss because there is no reason to believe that long-term weight loss is achievable by most people – in fact most people will lose weight short term, but almost all of them will gain the weight back long term with the majority gaining back more than they lost. Talking about the benefits of weight loss as if it’s something to be pursued is like talking about the benefits surviving a skydiving accident as if people should jump out of planes without parachutes.
The reason that so many people are confused by this is that we live in a fatphobic society that celebrates, glorifies and – for reasons often passing logic and understanding –gives weight loss the credit for basically everything. People who talk about weight loss as a positive thing will get guaranteed attention and accolades. But 2-5 years later when they’ve gained back all of their weight the media will have moved on, they will be branded a failure by those who praised them (despite the fact that what happened is a statistical near-certainty,) and they will face the choice of opting out of this harmful cycle, or starting the cycle over again. Meanwhile we’ll only have heard about the “successful” short term weight loss.
So I’m appreciating the people who took the time to contact that ASA about this ad (activism works!) and celebrating that the ASA has taken steps to be clear that happiness and self-worth are not weight (or weight-loss) dependent. Since almost nobody will be successful at weight loss long term it’s incredibly important to know that we have the option to get off the weight loss roller coaster, stop participating in harmful weight loss talk, and pursue the lives we want in the bodies we have right now.
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The UK has a more responsible approach to their advertising standards. Bullshit is neither encouraged nor tolerated. The way they figure, if you can’t sell a product without having to lie about it, it’s probably something that people don’t really need to be buying anyway.
The United States REALLY needs to adopt those types of standards to their ads.
I know it’s slightly OT RE: advertising standards actually having standards for once, but when I got to “You can look that good *again*” part of the ad, I snorted. I’ve never been thin. Not as a teen. Not as a child. Not even as a *baby.* There is no “again” to go back to. Why do they always assume I started out thin and then there was a cataclysmic moment I fell to the dark side and through some immoral behavior turned myself fa… oh, wait, I just answered my own question there, didn’t I? That’s a narrative that casts them as the hero who saves me and the world from my evil, evil self, while “fat baby grows into fat toddler, fat child, fat teen, and fat adult in mundane display of biodiversity” isn’t.
This! This! THIS!
Delighted on this decision but don’t see it is necessary a reliable standard. I complained about a horrific WW ad where she had lost weight and could now go shopping with her daughter and it had brought them closer together and she didn’t want to lose that so she used the WW ‘maintenance’ app. There were so many grounds to object to this, and apparently several people did. They ruled that the ad was reasonable. No words.
Go shopping with her daughter? What in blue blazes what stopping her from going shopping with her daughter?
The fact that they were different sizes, and would have to go to different stores? Only for clothes. Fat and thin people can shop together in any other kind of store.
Groceries? Not size-dependent. Books? Not size-dependent. Hardware? Not size-dependent.
Seriously, that’s just ridiculous.
And you know what? As long as both thin and fat people get to go shopping for an equal amount of time in the store that caters to them, they can “bond” as they shop for clothes together. It’s simple. One tries on the clothes and the others says, “That looks fantastic on you,” or “No, that color doesn’t suit you,” or, “That skirt rides up in the back.”
Wonderful! This would make the advertising less offensive, for sure!
We really need PSAs where post-diet self talks to pre-diet self:
Dear Dieting Self: I know you want to fit society’s standards. I know it is hard when you are being bullied. But you are spending all your time on this and making yourself miserable.
Dear post-Dieting Self: What else can I do?
Dear Dieting Self: Learn to let it go. Live in the body you have RIGHT NOW. Look at these pictures of ourself having fun with our friends! You can do that today!
Dear post-Dieting Self: I can?! But won’t people like me better if I am thinner?
Dear Dieting Self: The people who like you will always like you. Thin, fat, healthy, sick. They love you no matter what and want to spend time with you. Please, put away the diet stuff and go call your friends.
Dear post-Dieting Self: I – I’ll try.
^^^love this so much. “Put away the diet stuff and go call your friends.”
Love it! And the background music can be an instrumental cover of the Beatles’ “Let It Be.”