Diet culture is so ingrained in our current culture and daily lives that we run the risk of forgetting that it is very seriously messed up. So I think it’s important to point it out when we see it – like this:
This ad is pretty standard diet bullshit – it has your undressed salad surrounded by artfully placed food that is meant to appeal to the idea of food moralization, it has your measuring tape (though, being wound around the fork is, perhaps, a new low.) It even has the re-naming of stuff to make it seem less diet-y (see also “It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change!” meaning you change to a lifestyle where you diet all the time.”)
But there’s another layer of awful here. Because this isn’t a diet ad. It’s the sign-in screen for KeyBank.
This is what reader Ziggy found when trying to login. And remember, it’s not just perpetuating dieting, it’s also possibly triggering an eating disorder. To login. To your bank account. WT Actual F Keybank?
Here’s my favorite part – if they are equating dieting to your financial goals, what they are saying is that they offer almost no chance of success. So, good job there, KeyBank marketing officials.
Now may be a good time to remind ourselves that diet culture is ubiquitous, and dangerous, and totally bullshit. And we should not be Here are some options for dealing with it (besides, you know, screaming into the void, which is also completely valid.)
What are the worst places that you’ve seen diet used as a metaphor like this? Feel free to leave your answers in the comments!
Was this helpful? If you appreciate the work that I do, you can support my ability to do more of it with a one-time tip or by becoming a member. (Members get special deals on fat-positive stuff, a monthly e-mail keeping them up to date on the work their membership supports, and the ability to ask me questions that I answer in a members-only monthly Q&A Video!)
Like this blog? Here’s more cool stuff:
New Coaching Program – Walk, Run, or Roll Any Distance, Starting Exactly Where You Are
Jeanette DePatie and I have created a coaching program for walking, running, or rolling any distance, starting wherever you are now! It includes :
- Our Rock the Road Training Tool that customizes your weekly workouts starting exactly where you are right now, and gives you total flexibility (no more cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all workouts!)
- 6 weekly coaching video calls (you can watch online or just call in on your phone)
- Insights from guest coaches
- A dedicated Facebook group (with no weight loss or diet talk allowed!)
- Access to Jeanette and Ragen via a priority access email address.
Investment: $69 (DancesWithFat members get $20 off, check your member e-mail and member page for the coupon code!)
Wellness for All Bodies Program: A simple, step-by-step, super efficient guide to setting and reaching your health goals from a weight-neutral perspective. This program can be used by individuals, or by groups, including as a workplace wellness program!
Price: $25.00 ($10 for DancesWithFat members – register on the member page)
This e-course that includes coaching videos, a study guide, and an ebook with the tools you need to create a rock-solid relationship with your body. Our relationships with our bodies don’t happen in a vacuum, so just learning to see our beauty isn’t going to cut it. The world throws obstacles in our way – obstacles that aren’t our fault, but become our problem. Over the course of this program, Ragen Chastain, Jeanette DePatie, and six incredible guest coaches will teach you practical, realistic, proven strategies to go above, around, and through the obstacles that the world puts in front of you when it comes to living an amazing life in the body you have now.
Price: $99.00
($79.00 for DancesWithFat members – register on the member page)
Love It! 234 Inspirations And Activities to Help You Love Your Body
This is filled with thoughtful advice from the authors Jeanette DePatie, Ragen Chastain, and Pia Sciavo-Campo as well as dozens of other notable names from the body love movement, the book is lovingly illustrated with diverse drawings from size-positive artist Toni Tails.
Price: $9.99 softcover, $7.99 Kindle, ($6.95 + free shipping for DancesWithFat Members)
Non-Members click here for all the details and to register!
Book and Dance Class Sale! I’m on a journey to complete an IRON-distance triathlon, and I’m having a sale on all my books, DVDs, and digital downloads to help pay for it. You get books and dance classes, I get spandex clothes and bike parts. Everybody wins! If you want, you can check it out here! (DancesWithFat Members get an even better deal, make sure to make your purchases from the Members Page!)
Book Me! I’d love to speak to your organization. You can get more information here or just e-mail me at ragen at danceswithfat dot org!
I’m (still!) training for an Iron-distance triathlon! You can follow my journey at www.IronFat.com .
If you are uncomfortable with my offering things for sale on this site, you are invited to check out this post.
Dances With Fat 
I think the worst (not very current any more) was “lean and mean” used as praise for companies. It seemed to be encouragement for firing people or not hiring enough of them.
https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=%22lean+and+mean%22&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C%22%20lean%20and%20mean%20%22%3B%2Cc0#t1%3B%2C%22%20lean%20and%20mean%20%22%3B%2Cc0
“Lean and mean” hit its peak in 1996 and have been tailing off sinse.
That is still pretty current in manufacturing, lean manufacturing is (as I understand it) the practice of hiring barely or even not enough employees to cover a shift so people have to work harder for no extra pay to get the same thing done. I’m job hunting now and I try to avoid companies that talk about that, but it’s disturbingly common for it to be proudly mentioned in job ads or interviews.
*Has* been tailing off since.
Ragen- another great blog. My favorite line: “It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle change!” meaning you change to a lifestyle where you diet all the time.” Hope it’s OK if I steal it and use it all of the time!
Example #294,085 of “resolution” being used as a euphemism for “diet.” At this rate, it’s going to join “fit” and “healthy” on the list of words that lost all useful lexical meaning after the diet industry got ahold of them.
Dave Ramsey (the personal finance guru) often compares (favorably) budgeting to dieting. He uses imagery, as he speaks, which is really offensive IMHO. I applaud the whole getting out of debt thing, but I have a hard time listening when he goes on about fat.
NOTE – many people criticize the quality of his advice. When his name his mentioned. I often see a donnybrook start on comments pages.
Many such critiques are well-founded. Whether or not his advice is good, bad, or indifferent isn’t relevant within this context.
I feel so vindicated! Thanks so much for exposing this back-door diet bullshit! ❤️
Can’t add anything. Still reeling from the banks that have coffee shops in them to encourage millennials to use them. Apparently the newest hippest financial institution comes with raisins.
New job title Bankerista? Jeeze people, just give me a good return and free checking and I’ll choose my own beverages and snacks…
That super sucks. I can’t think of any ads. For me budgeting means I don’t actually have enough money so I have to pick and choose. I suppose in that sense it is like being on a diet, since you are can only have a certain amount of something, so you have to pick and choose.
What I have never understood is associating breaking a diet by ‘cheating’. If cheating is acting dishonestly, aren’t you just being dishonest with yourself? Why would you want that in your life?
Well, that’s whack.
I think I would be moving my money elsewhere.
I just blocked Noom ads on my Facebook AGAIN. I think the preferences reset after a while. It’s like “No, I don’t need a reminder/trigger for my ED, but thanks for nothing.”