Gym Ad Slammed For Fat-Shaming
A billboard advert for a gym chain has been slammed for promoting fat-shaming [Photo: Rex Features]
Just when you think we might be making progress in the body-shaming battle, a well-known gym chain, Fit4less, goes and puts out an advert that seemingly promotes fat-hating.
Using an image of an alien with a spaceship in the background, the billboard, displayed on a busy road in Sawley, Derbyshire, reads: “They’re coming… and when they arrive, they’ll take the fat ones first!”
The advert was spotted by Natalie Harvey, who runs local anti-bullying charity, Combat Bullying. She has since been campaigning to get the advert removed.
“Rather than shaming the overweight in society let’s encourage & help them @Fit4lessUK this poster IMO is bullying,” she wrote on Twitter.
Speaking to the Daily Mail the mother of two said, “Just this week alone I’ve had three cases of bullying due to weight issues and I feel campaigns like this aid bullying. I couldn’t believe it when I saw it. It’s 2016, this sort of fat-shaming humour is offensive.”
The company behind the advert has defended the message behind it [Photo: Twitter @Natharvey77]
And Natalie certainly wasn’t the only one to find the advert offensive with many taking to Twitter to share the image and post comments criticising the negative body message behind the billboard.
But Fit4Less has defended the controversial advert claiming that it is a light-hearted way to encourage people of all body shapes to exercise. Jan Spaticchia, the chief executive of the gym’s parent company Energie Group, said the advert had actually been highly “successful”
Speaking to The Mail he said: “We aim to get people talking and promote the notion of a healthy lifestyle.
“There is such a thing as being overweight and healthy, not everyone has to be skinny.”
"We certainly didn’t mean to cause offence and we care about the relationships that we build with the communities that we serve.”
"We also believe however that if we are going to reach more people as a sector then we need to stop taking ourselves so seriously and realise that if we want to attract normal people, then we need to be willing to poke fun at ourselves and our messaging is designed to do exactly that.”
What do you think of the advert? Let us know @YahooStyleUK
Bathroom Scales Slammed For Using Kate Moss ‘Pro-Anorexia’ Slogan
Charlize Theron Blasts Sexist Attitude To Ageing: “We Live In A Society Where Women Wilt”
