Larger women in ads for Target and Athleta

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’d be very interested to see their sales figures from the catalog with morbidly obese yoga poser.

Most yogis I know are extremely fit and would not be want to wear the brand associated with obesity. Brand loyalty has it’s limits.

That must be why you I never see “yogis” wearing Athleta anymore.

Oh wait.

I have news for you... Lulu is selling items up to size 20 now.

Yes, that was precisely the point. Hence the sarcasm.

[Anonymous]

I don't like it. Having all models not be a size 0 is fine. However, bigger than size 8-10 and clothes start to look distorted. I was shopping for sone underwear recently and had this issue. Too many lumps and bulges makes it impossible to see the lines, drape/fit of the clothing item. I think there always needs to be at least one thin/not overweight model photographed too.

[Anonymous]

If we stopped making clothes larger than size 4 we would solve the obseity problem and 90% of divorces

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we stopped making clothes larger than size 4 we would solve the obseity problem and 90% of divorces

lol what? So what would larger people do? Sew their own?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we stopped making clothes larger than size 4 we would solve the obseity problem and 90% of divorces

lol what? So what would larger people do? Sew their own?

I do wonder what larger people did back when today's size 6 was a size 10-12 and clothes didn't go past size 16.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we stopped making clothes larger than size 4 we would solve the obseity problem and 90% of divorces

lol what? So what would larger people do? Sew their own?

I do wonder what larger people did back when today's size 6 was a size 10-12 and clothes didn't go past size 16.

There were much fewer people who were that fat back in the day so it really wasn’t an issue like it is now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we stopped making clothes larger than size 4 we would solve the obseity problem and 90% of divorces

lol what? So what would larger people do? Sew their own?

I do wonder what larger people did back when today's size 6 was a size 10-12 and clothes didn't go past size 16.

I think at that point there were still dressmakers and more people who sewed at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we stopped making clothes larger than size 4 we would solve the obseity problem and 90% of divorces

lol what? So what would larger people do? Sew their own?

I do wonder what larger people did back when today's size 6 was a size 10-12 and clothes didn't go past size 16.

I think at that point there were still dressmakers and more people who sewed at home.

I think the point of this "body acceptance" stuff is that it normalizes obesity. Sure, it is absolutely healthy to be a size 8, 10 or even 12 and be able to run a 5k and have muscles and be proud. But the 14, 16....22?! I mean, self love and all that, but at some point there is a balance of health that is likely tipping the other way. If visceral fat is healthy below .6lbs....none of those sizes is the picture of health.

I like the athletic models and the ones showing how clothes fit on non-5'10" waifs. But let's not go overboard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we stopped making clothes larger than size 4 we would solve the obseity problem and 90% of divorces

lol what? So what would larger people do? Sew their own?

I do wonder what larger people did back when today's size 6 was a size 10-12 and clothes didn't go past size 16.

I think at that point there were still dressmakers and more people who sewed at home.

I think the point of this "body acceptance" stuff is that it normalizes obesity. Sure, it is absolutely healthy to be a size 8, 10 or even 12 and be able to run a 5k and have muscles and be proud. But the 14, 16....22?! I mean, self love and all that, but at some point there is a balance of health that is likely tipping the other way. If visceral fat is healthy below .6lbs....none of those sizes is the picture of health.

I like the athletic models and the ones showing how clothes fit on non-5'10" waifs. But let's not go overboard.

+1.

[Anonymous]

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!

I don't think morbid obesity should be normalized, but I also think that those of you sounding off about it on this thread have no idea how distorted your views are through years of conditioning by the fashion industry. Most models look painfully, unhealthily thin in real life. Most of the plus-sized models I see in catalogs would actually look very normal to you in real life.

I love this trend. When it first started, I would come up short at the sight of a plus-sized model, because we are so used to seeing the unrealistic, ultra-thin, air-brushed nonsense they have been bombarding us with for so many decades. But the more you see the regular-size (plus-sized in their world) models, the more normal it becomes. And as it should be. We should not find this so jarring.

I hope the sales continue or increase in support of this move, so that it keeps coming and all of our barometers are shifted over time until this becomes normal to us. This would be a great thing for all women. I am all for promoting health and fitness, but you can have those things in most women and still never, ever look like the traditional model. I don't think most of them are all that healthy, really, because of what they do to maintain that unrealistic, adolescent shape. You want to promote real health, show real health and fitness with many different shapes, sizes, colors etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we stopped making clothes larger than size 4 we would solve the obseity problem and 90% of divorces

lol what? So what would larger people do? Sew their own?

I do wonder what larger people did back when today's size 6 was a size 10-12 and clothes didn't go past size 16.

I think at that point there were still dressmakers and more people who sewed at home.

I think the point of this "body acceptance" stuff is that it normalizes obesity. Sure, it is absolutely healthy to be a size 8, 10 or even 12 and be able to run a 5k and have muscles and be proud. But the 14, 16....22?! I mean, self love and all that, but at some point there is a balance of health that is likely tipping the other way. If visceral fat is healthy below .6lbs....none of those sizes is the picture of health.

I like the athletic models and the ones showing how clothes fit on non-5'10" waifs. But let's not go overboard.

I am 5' 11" and a size 14 is not obese for me. Maybe you need to broaden your mind.

[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!

I don't think morbid obesity should be normalized, but I also think that those of you sounding off about it on this thread have no idea how distorted your views are through years of conditioning by the fashion industry. Most models look painfully, unhealthily thin in real life. Most of the plus-sized models I see in catalogs would actually look very normal to you in real life.

I love this trend. When it first started, I would come up short at the sight of a plus-sized model, because we are so used to seeing the unrealistic, ultra-thin, air-brushed nonsense they have been bombarding us with for so many decades. But the more you see the regular-size (plus-sized in their world) models, the more normal it becomes. And as it should be. We should not find this so jarring.

I hope the sales continue or increase in support of this move, so that it keeps coming and all of our barometers are shifted over time until this becomes normal to us. This would be a great thing for all women. I am all for promoting health and fitness, but you can have those things in most women and still never, ever look like the traditional model. I don't think most of them are all that healthy, really, because of what they do to maintain that unrealistic, adolescent shape. You want to promote real health, show real health and fitness with many different shapes, sizes, colors etc.

+ 1. Also, it makes sense for clothing retailers that carry extended sizes to show multiple sizes of an item to give buyers an idea of how the item fits at those size points. Objectively, it makes sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If we stopped making clothes larger than size 4 we would solve the obseity problem and 90% of divorces

lol what? So what would larger people do? Sew their own?

I do wonder what larger people did back when today's size 6 was a size 10-12 and clothes didn't go past size 16.

I think at that point there were still dressmakers and more people who sewed at home.

I think the point of this "body acceptance" stuff is that it normalizes obesity. Sure, it is absolutely healthy to be a size 8, 10 or even 12 and be able to run a 5k and have muscles and be proud. But the 14, 16....22?! I mean, self love and all that, but at some point there is a balance of health that is likely tipping the other way. If visceral fat is healthy below .6lbs....none of those sizes is the picture of health.

I like the athletic models and the ones showing how clothes fit on non-5'10" waifs. But let's not go overboard.

I am 5' 11" and a size 14 is not obese for me. Maybe you need to broaden your mind.

I have the same measurements. There are some strange and uninformed generalizations being made on this thread.

[Anonymous]

I hope the sales continue or increase in support of this move, so that it keeps coming and all of our barometers are shifted over time until this becomes normal to us.

Do you work in health care? I do, in direct patient care. In a facility that primarily serves the two demographics with the highest rates of obesity in the United States.

I deeply, passionately hope that our societal barometers do not permanently shift, so that morbid obesity is normalized. Or even obesity. Both are undeniably independent risk factors for disease and mortality. We knew this already but Covid has put this reality in stark relief. Obese people obviously should not closet themselves and be publicly shamed. But neither should DISEASE be promoted and normalized as if it's just another rational option among many.

I mean, why not go back to allowing smoking ads? Showing smokers in catalogues like we did in the 60s? Smokers deserve our compassion, too. Normalizing cigarettes on Instagram could reduce the stigma smokers feel and lead the public to be more accepting of their choice to take up smoking in the first place and the difficulty they face in trying to quit.

Of course that's patently ridiculous. Yet a growing chorus would like to normalize a comorbidity that unequivocally contributes to multiple cancers, diabetes and heart disease.

The women who respond to this by saying they're significantly overweight with "great labs" and normal blood pressure will not be able to say this after age 40 or so. I've never once, not once, treated an obese patient >50 years who was otherwise disease-free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I hope the sales continue or increase in support of this move, so that it keeps coming and all of our barometers are shifted over time until this becomes normal to us.

Do you work in health care? I do, in direct patient care. In a facility that primarily serves the two demographics with the highest rates of obesity in the United States.

I deeply, passionately hope that our societal barometers do not permanently shift, so that morbid obesity is normalized. Or even obesity. Both are undeniably independent risk factors for disease and mortality. We knew this already but Covid has put this reality in stark relief. Obese people obviously should not closet themselves and be publicly shamed. But neither should DISEASE be promoted and normalized as if it's just another rational option among many.

I mean, why not go back to allowing smoking ads? Showing smokers in catalogues like we did in the 60s? Smokers deserve our compassion, too. Normalizing cigarettes on Instagram could reduce the stigma smokers feel and lead the public to be more accepting of their choice to take up smoking in the first place and the difficulty they face in trying to quit.

Of course that's patently ridiculous. Yet a growing chorus would like to normalize a comorbidity that unequivocally contributes to multiple cancers, diabetes and heart disease.

The women who respond to this by saying they're significantly overweight with "great labs" and normal blood pressure will not be able to say this after age 40 or so. I've never once, not once, treated an obese patient >50 years who was otherwise disease-free.

Except that’s one hundred percent what you freaky fat shamers want. You want all of us obese people to feel fat, to understand that you, “a healthcare worker” has never, not once, “treated” an obese patient who was otherwise disease free. You know what I wish for you fat shamers, every single time I read one of your concern trolling posts? I wish morbid obesity for each of you. I wish for you a series of occurrences - some within your control and some out - that creates for you a body that is constantly patrolled, shamed, tsk’d at, vilified, difficult to shop for, for then perhaps you might grow a shred of humanity. But I have doubts.

Your “patients” know how you think. And they feel nothing but scorn for you, too, kiddo.