Controversial opinion: Against “Body diversity” in social media ads

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d like to see normal people. It’s either underweight or overweight women. Let’s all aim for the middle, shall we?

The average height is 5”4 for women and the avg weight is 161lbs. If that’s “normal” and “real”, I want to be abnormal and unreal!

[Anonymous]

I love seeing post-partum women in ads, where they are healthy weights but still have saggy stomachs with stretch marks, because that is the reality for many post-partum women. It acknowledges that we exist and we shouldn't have to hide parts of ourselves that were forever changed by pregnancy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t feel bad OP. Most people would agree with you.

+1 I hate seeing obese people in the Target ads. I agree, it's asif we've given up.

+2 I’m a 45 year old woman and I at least try to keep a healthy body weight. We shouldn’t celebrate obesity in the guise of inclusion. It’s unhealthy. It’s raises. your cancer risk. It decreases your overall lifespan.

I'm OP and this is my point. I am aware that in today's politically correct context I sound like a monster. But I don't behave in a different way towards obese people, I judge them by the content of their character. I would gladly pay higher taxes so that they can have better healthcare (universal healthcare) and I support policies that bring more healthy food choices to food desert communities, and generous leave policies for companies so people aren't overstressed and overmedicated. I want obese people to lose weight and live longer and more fulfilled lives. I don't want their unhealthy bodies to be showcased in a way that is promotional or in a traditionally aspirational context. Especially when you're apparently not allowed to look away. I mean it's one thing if it's a company that makes plus size clothing, or even a clothing company that just has a lot of sizes. I am forced to look at fat women with cellulite dancing in their underwear. There is literally no setting I can turn off on Facebook or instagram or anything else that will block underwear ads or period ads or anything like that. I'm a woman, therefore the internet thinks I need to buy those things.

Poor op. Having to look at people who are fat is such a struggle! How do you manage?

[Anonymous]

Nothing is wrong with some people being overweight. Some people have metabolism or health issues, and that is just how it is for them. However, too large a percentage of our society is overweight due to bad dietary habits and lack of exercise. That is a problem - not the smaller group of people who would be overweight regardless. Overweight people in ads are fine, because it isn't inherently bad or gross to be overweight. But we shouldn't accept our country's bad diet and sedentary lifestyle - that is what we should reject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t feel bad OP. Most people would agree with you.

+1 I hate seeing obese people in the Target ads. I agree, it's asif we've given up.

+2 I’m a 45 year old woman and I at least try to keep a healthy body weight. We shouldn’t celebrate obesity in the guise of inclusion. It’s unhealthy. It’s raises. your cancer risk. It decreases your overall lifespan.

I'm OP and this is my point. I am aware that in today's politically correct context I sound like a monster. But I don't behave in a different way towards obese people, I judge them by the content of their character. I would gladly pay higher taxes so that they can have better healthcare (universal healthcare) and I support policies that bring more healthy food choices to food desert communities, and generous leave policies for companies so people aren't overstressed and overmedicated. I want obese people to lose weight and live longer and more fulfilled lives. I don't want their unhealthy bodies to be showcased in a way that is promotional or in a traditionally aspirational context. Especially when you're apparently not allowed to look away. I mean it's one thing if it's a company that makes plus size clothing, or even a clothing company that just has a lot of sizes. I am forced to look at fat women with cellulite dancing in their underwear. There is literally no setting I can turn off on Facebook or instagram or anything else that will block underwear ads or period ads or anything like that. I'm a woman, therefore the internet thinks I need to buy those things.

Poor op. Having to look at people who are fat is such a struggle! How do you manage?

Forgot to add. No way would you volunteer to pay more taxes!

[Anonymous]

I’d like to see normal people. It’s either underweight or overweight women. Let’s all aim for the middle, shall we?


The average height is 5”4 for women and the avg weight is 161lbs. If that’s “normal” and “real”, I want to be abnormal and unreal!

I mean, my mom is 73 years old, 5'4" and 160 lbs. I don't think that's terrible for a person her age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First off - I realize I am a mean and horrible person for even thinking that. Which is why I’m saying it on an anonymous board and not asking actual people on social media.

I just don’t like seeing swimsuit, underwear, and other kinds of ads that feature obese women. I know it sounds horrible but it makes me uncomfortable to see it and I just don’t like it. I understand why they do it but it just makes me uneasy. And I get it - the modeling industry sucks. Anorexic models aren’t good to look at either. I wish they would use normal people, like size 4-10.

But I keep seeing ads geared toward me, just because I am a woman ages 18-60 who wears clothes, and I try to hit hide ad by different companies and update my settings but I just can’t get around being bombarded by obese women in their underwear. One advertisement for some kind of period panties or whatever showed an obese woman with tons of cellulite spreading her legs and showing her underwear with a pad hanging out. I’m sorry, but that’s gross. I wouldn’t even see that at the beach, why do I have to be subjected to it on Facebook?

I get that people are progressive and inclusive and all about feelings and comfort, but I’m just not there yet. Seeing this makes me feel uneasy, like we’ve given up as a society to fight obesity, or that we’re so politically correct that you’re not supposed to fight it, that beauty is now the patriarchy and obesity is beauty. I wish we would stop normalizing it. It’s the opposite extreme from photoshopped or anorexic models. Advertisements should promote health instead.

Lastly, I resent the term “body diversity” in this context. Unless you are talking diverse as in athletic/curvy/thin/tall/short etc and not as in including fat to morbidly obese people. Diversity is a GOOD thing. Body weight is not the same thing as race or gender or sexual orientation. Being a person of color or gay is a characteristic and an identity and something to be proud of. Obesity is not, it’s a disease, stop glorifying it.

I’m sure I’ll get hate for saying all this, but I had to get it out of me. This is just how I feel.

Subsutite Black or Latino with overweight and you will see your opinions are bigoted.

[Anonymous]

Where are all the models who are neither super skinny nor plus-sized? I like representation, but doesn't that mean we should represent the huge block of people falling between the two?

Mindy Kaling's book talks about this a lot. When she was doing magazine shoots and stuff for her shows (The Office, The Mindy Project) she'd show up at shoots and they would only have model and plus-sized samples, which meant, like, 0s and 16s, when neither one fit her. And she'd be like "I'm an 8" and they'd be so confused as to how to dress and shoot someone who was neither waifish nor a big sassy plus sized person. That's a real problem, considering how many people fall into that range.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First off - I realize I am a mean and horrible person for even thinking that. Which is why I’m saying it on an anonymous board and not asking actual people on social media.

I just don’t like seeing swimsuit, underwear, and other kinds of ads that feature obese women. I know it sounds horrible but it makes me uncomfortable to see it and I just don’t like it. I understand why they do it but it just makes me uneasy. And I get it - the modeling industry sucks. Anorexic models aren’t good to look at either. I wish they would use normal people, like size 4-10.

But I keep seeing ads geared toward me, just because I am a woman ages 18-60 who wears clothes, and I try to hit hide ad by different companies and update my settings but I just can’t get around being bombarded by obese women in their underwear. One advertisement for some kind of period panties or whatever showed an obese woman with tons of cellulite spreading her legs and showing her underwear with a pad hanging out. I’m sorry, but that’s gross. I wouldn’t even see that at the beach, why do I have to be subjected to it on Facebook?

I get that people are progressive and inclusive and all about feelings and comfort, but I’m just not there yet. Seeing this makes me feel uneasy, like we’ve given up as a society to fight obesity, or that we’re so politically correct that you’re not supposed to fight it, that beauty is now the patriarchy and obesity is beauty. I wish we would stop normalizing it. It’s the opposite extreme from photoshopped or anorexic models. Advertisements should promote health instead.

Lastly, I resent the term “body diversity” in this context. Unless you are talking diverse as in athletic/curvy/thin/tall/short etc and not as in including fat to morbidly obese people. Diversity is a GOOD thing. Body weight is not the same thing as race or gender or sexual orientation. Being a person of color or gay is a characteristic and an identity and something to be proud of. Obesity is not, it’s a disease, stop glorifying it.

I’m sure I’ll get hate for saying all this, but I had to get it out of me. This is just how I feel.

Subsutite Black or Latino with overweight and you will see your opinions are bigoted.

NP one is a permanent skin color/race and the other is changeable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First off - I realize I am a mean and horrible person for even thinking that. Which is why I’m saying it on an anonymous board and not asking actual people on social media.

I just don’t like seeing swimsuit, underwear, and other kinds of ads that feature obese women. I know it sounds horrible but it makes me uncomfortable to see it and I just don’t like it. I understand why they do it but it just makes me uneasy. And I get it - the modeling industry sucks. Anorexic models aren’t good to look at either. I wish they would use normal people, like size 4-10.

But I keep seeing ads geared toward me, just because I am a woman ages 18-60 who wears clothes, and I try to hit hide ad by different companies and update my settings but I just can’t get around being bombarded by obese women in their underwear. One advertisement for some kind of period panties or whatever showed an obese woman with tons of cellulite spreading her legs and showing her underwear with a pad hanging out. I’m sorry, but that’s gross. I wouldn’t even see that at the beach, why do I have to be subjected to it on Facebook?

I get that people are progressive and inclusive and all about feelings and comfort, but I’m just not there yet. Seeing this makes me feel uneasy, like we’ve given up as a society to fight obesity, or that we’re so politically correct that you’re not supposed to fight it, that beauty is now the patriarchy and obesity is beauty. I wish we would stop normalizing it. It’s the opposite extreme from photoshopped or anorexic models. Advertisements should promote health instead.

Lastly, I resent the term “body diversity” in this context. Unless you are talking diverse as in athletic/curvy/thin/tall/short etc and not as in including fat to morbidly obese people. Diversity is a GOOD thing. Body weight is not the same thing as race or gender or sexual orientation. Being a person of color or gay is a characteristic and an identity and something to be proud of. Obesity is not, it’s a disease, stop glorifying it.

I’m sure I’ll get hate for saying all this, but I had to get it out of me. This is just how I feel.

Subsutite Black or Latino with overweight and you will see your opinions are bigoted.

So you are comparing being Black or Latino with having a disease? Now you sound bigoted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t feel bad OP. Most people would agree with you.

+1 I hate seeing obese people in the Target ads. I agree, it's asif we've given up.

+2 I’m a 45 year old woman and I at least try to keep a healthy body weight. We shouldn’t celebrate obesity in the guise of inclusion. It’s unhealthy. It’s raises. your cancer risk. It decreases your overall lifespan.

Yep. I'm okay with models who are +10 lbs. I do not want anorexic models. Just normal healthy women please!

It's very sad going past high schools. I'm in my 30s and high school students didn't look like this. They are sooo much heavier than what I remember.

I grew up in the 80's and only remember 1 or 2 overweight or obese people in my class the whole way through. It was an anomaly. Nowadays, obesity is commonplace so much so, that average or thin people look "anorexic" even though they are healthy by all measures. It's bizarre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I’d like to see normal people. It’s either underweight or overweight women. Let’s all aim for the middle, shall we?


The average height is 5”4 for women and the avg weight is 161lbs. If that’s “normal” and “real”, I want to be abnormal and unreal!

I mean, my mom is 73 years old, 5'4" and 160 lbs. I don't think that's terrible for a person her age.

Fair point. But models are generally under 73 years old. And OP wants “normal” (average) models.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where are all the models who are neither super skinny nor plus-sized? I like representation, but doesn't that mean we should represent the huge block of people falling between the two?

Mindy Kaling's book talks about this a lot. When she was doing magazine shoots and stuff for her shows (The Office, The Mindy Project) she'd show up at shoots and they would only have model and plus-sized samples, which meant, like, 0s and 16s, when neither one fit her. And she'd be like "I'm an 8" and they'd be so confused as to how to dress and shoot someone who was neither waifish nor a big sassy plus sized person. That's a real problem, considering how many people fall into that range.

What exactly is a "big sassy plus sized person"?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are all the models who are neither super skinny nor plus-sized? I like representation, but doesn't that mean we should represent the huge block of people falling between the two?

Mindy Kaling's book talks about this a lot. When she was doing magazine shoots and stuff for her shows (The Office, The Mindy Project) she'd show up at shoots and they would only have model and plus-sized samples, which meant, like, 0s and 16s, when neither one fit her. And she'd be like "I'm an 8" and they'd be so confused as to how to dress and shoot someone who was neither waifish nor a big sassy plus sized person. That's a real problem, considering how many people fall into that range.

What exactly is a "big sassy plus sized person"?

A plus sized person who apparently is happy to be plus sized and has no patience for people who don't like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First off - I realize I am a mean and horrible person for even thinking that. Which is why I’m saying it on an anonymous board and not asking actual people on social media.

I just don’t like seeing swimsuit, underwear, and other kinds of ads that feature obese women. I know it sounds horrible but it makes me uncomfortable to see it and I just don’t like it. I understand why they do it but it just makes me uneasy. And I get it - the modeling industry sucks. Anorexic models aren’t good to look at either. I wish they would use normal people, like size 4-10.

But I keep seeing ads geared toward me, just because I am a woman ages 18-60 who wears clothes, and I try to hit hide ad by different companies and update my settings but I just can’t get around being bombarded by obese women in their underwear. One advertisement for some kind of period panties or whatever showed an obese woman with tons of cellulite spreading her legs and showing her underwear with a pad hanging out. I’m sorry, but that’s gross. I wouldn’t even see that at the beach, why do I have to be subjected to it on Facebook?

I get that people are progressive and inclusive and all about feelings and comfort, but I’m just not there yet. Seeing this makes me feel uneasy, like we’ve given up as a society to fight obesity, or that we’re so politically correct that you’re not supposed to fight it, that beauty is now the patriarchy and obesity is beauty. I wish we would stop normalizing it. It’s the opposite extreme from photoshopped or anorexic models. Advertisements should promote health instead.

Lastly, I resent the term “body diversity” in this context. Unless you are talking diverse as in athletic/curvy/thin/tall/short etc and not as in including fat to morbidly obese people. Diversity is a GOOD thing. Body weight is not the same thing as race or gender or sexual orientation. Being a person of color or gay is a characteristic and an identity and something to be proud of. Obesity is not, it’s a disease, stop glorifying it.

I’m sure I’ll get hate for saying all this, but I had to get it out of me. This is just how I feel.

Subsutite Black or Latino with overweight and you will see your opinions are bigoted.

So you are comparing being Black or Latino with having a disease? Now you sound bigoted.

I will try to explain. Years ago all models were white. OP could have been the type of person who says I dont like looking at diverse models. Ie models who are not white. Now do you get it?

I really wonder pp at your is a lack of critical thinking skills. How in the world can you extrapolate what I wrote to be bigoted? For some people, they cant change their weight. I am certainly NOT saying Black or Latino people are diseased. And I am really offended you called me bigioted.