Larger women in ads for Target and Athleta

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just got the most recent Athleta catalog and am frankly shocked at the women they have pictured. I’m going to ask them to stop sending me catalogs. Featuring what I would classify as morbidly obese women on the cover and throughout the catalog is a complete turnoff. Athleta is going to lose their primary customers if they keep going down this road. This is not something to be celebrated. These women are unhealthy and need to get their weight under control or they are going to DIE.

I am completely on board with showing curvier women who are more representative of American women. What they are doing now is way too extreme. If this a market segment where they actually think they can make money, then they should start a new brand specifically for plus sized women and send them a different catalog. Stop apologizing for featuring healthy models and stop changing and upending your entire branding and marketing strategy.

+1 morbid obesity should not be normalized!

Agree! Including plus size models is fine but they have gone way overboard. Athleta should be inspirational and now it looks like a brand specifically for fat women. Their modes have typically been athletes, muscular etc, and that was awesome. But seeing leggings on someone 75 lbs overweight absolutely does not make me want to buy them.

Agree. I would like to see fit healthy women as the models; athletes, lifters, women that actually use the active wear as it is intended. I want workout inspiration. Not obese women using as loungewear.

[Anonymous]

Lululemon's newest ambassador is a triathlete and ultramarathoner...and she's "obese". I am average and while I work out hard 4x/week, I couldn't string together 50+ miles if I tried, nor can I ride a bike. Athletic brands using athletic women regardless of body size is a good thing in my book!

RE: regular clothes, I enjoy it when companies put the same thing on models of multiple sizes and it only looks good on the skinniest one. Saves me the trouble of buying and returning stuff

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm getting super entertained by all these entitled angry women in this thread stomping their feet and sulking about how major retailers won't cater exclusively to them any more. Oh no, Karen won't shop at Athleta any more because it features a model that looks like 40% of the population. Whatever will Athleta do without Karen?

You forgot to write “40% of the AMERICAN population”. It is not common to see fat/ obese women in different parts of the world.

I know you would love to think this, but it’s simply not true, outside of places like Japan or South Korea (where they place an unhealthy emphasis on being super skinny).

It's true. Very few places around the world have the sheer numbers of fat women that the US has.

You said “it’s not common to see fat/obese women in different parts of the world.” That is not true. Many other countries also have high levels of obesity. They might not have as many as the USA, but they still have high levels of obesity. Some parts of the world, like some Pacific islands, have higher levels of obesity than the USA.

This is very ttrue. Obesity is the norm for most countries. Yes even in China. Also, African nations is struggling with the increase of obesity because of the importation of fast food.

[Anonymous]

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/most-obese-countries

[Anonymous]

I’m over it. They look terrible and are unhealthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one that looks at the larger models and is turned off from buying it? I think I want to be sold the dream...

Good for them, just not sure it will help sales.

I wonder if skinny women don't want to be caught wearing the same clothes fat women wear?

Maybe.

There is tons of research showing many white people stop buying brands that people of color start wearing it.... Polo, North Face, etc.

OMG go away. What is wrong with you?

What?!?! I just bought a North Face down jacket. I didn’t get the white people memo!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Am I the only one that looks at the larger models and is turned off from buying it? I think I want to be sold the dream...

Good for them, just not sure it will help sales.

I suspect that some people don't like it, some do like it and some are not affected by it.

I imagine that some stuff matters and doesn't to someone somewhere to one degree or another.

[Anonymous]

Just got athlete catalog yesterday and they seem to have doubled down on fat models. In groups photos, half of the women are obese. Not "fat fit"-a couple of the models are at least 100 lbs overweight. I understand they want to appeal to all buyers, but even fat buyers want to look like the fit models. They are normalizing a public health crisis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just got athlete catalog yesterday and they seem to have doubled down on fat models. In groups photos, half of the women are obese. Not "fat fit"-a couple of the models are at least 100 lbs overweight. I understand they want to appeal to all buyers, but even fat buyers want to look like the fit models. They are normalizing a public health crisis.

Also, isn’t the entire point of models—at least ideally—to show you what you might look like in the clothes? I understand that historically models have been supposedly aspirational for people, but ideally they should give me some idea of what the clothes might look like on me.

To that end, it isn’t helpful to only have obese people in the ads. Give me a range, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just got athlete catalog yesterday and they seem to have doubled down on fat models. In groups photos, half of the women are obese. Not "fat fit"-a couple of the models are at least 100 lbs overweight. I understand they want to appeal to all buyers, but even fat buyers want to look like the fit models. They are normalizing a public health crisis.

I noticed this as well--catalog went straight into the garbage. Some of the "models" were actually just gross looking. I'm all for real looking women, but their models are morbidly obese, and I really don't want to see 300lb women squeezed into sports bras and leggings.

[Anonymous]

I don’t shame any man, woman, or child for their body. Life is hard and I don’t know anyone’s story or judge how they make it through. Just being alive is a victory when you look at all the diseases, accidents, general things that you cannot control or choose in life.

However, being obese is not healthy. You cannot move well or exercise with a full range of motion. You are at high risk for so many chronic health issues. And it’s not attractive. Nobody says “That’s what I want to look like.”

We are at the point now where we are celebrating obesity and it’s not good for obese people to be obese. Not everyone can be what society dictates as “attractive” and thank goodness for that, society’s “attractive” meter is ridiculous and broken. But we should not celebrate being obese.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m over it. They look terrible and are unhealthy.

Seeing images of very large models in clothes I was considering purchasing actually saves me money, because I won't buy those clothes. It would be best to have links for your size. I know plenty of big girls who are disgusted by skinny women and they shouldn't have to look at that, either.

[Anonymous]

I (a naturally slender woman) don't find seeing overweight/obese models off-putting. I do wonder how those clothes will fit me so might be less likely to buy online in case of some serious vanity sizing.

[Anonymous]

Why does everyone cry "public health crisis" about fat/obese people but y'all don't seem to mind ethical/moral/value issues within your own communities and societies, drug abuse, opioid abuse, the sexualization of children, etc. Like this country has much bigger problems than there are a few fat people selling me clothes.

[Anonymous]

Before this thread I had no idea Athlete sold clothes that would.fit someone over xl. So maybe I am the target audience?