The person-of-size community is upset over an advertisement for a gym. If you think about it, pretty much every gym advertisement is an ad against being overweight, but this one goes a bit further, although in a humorous way. The ad basically says that if you’re overweight, you won’t be able to escape from Aliens if they come down to Earth and start abducting people. If anyone, the ad is saying that Aliens find overweight people to be more desirable, and better subjects to abduct, probe, and study – but alas, it’s not being taken in a positive light.\
The Gym’s called Fit4Less
And this billboard has gotten them world-wide exposure. Most people give a bit of a laugh, then move on with their days, however this advertisement is deeply troubling to some people of size who are very upset over it. They aren’t really the target audience for the gym, so ultimately it’s still a win for the fitness center, who have gotten worldwide publicity and the only people who are upset are people who categorically don’t use their service (Yet, ironically, need it the most.)
This manufactured online outrage reminds us of the backlash towards motivator John Burk, who bravely shared his feelings about the subject of the obesity epidemic and how parents need to take responsibility for their children’s well-being. We also need to make a correction to the article in which we featured Burk, the headline said that he “got in trouble” but he didn’t actually get in trouble, because he’s a man who stands by his convictions and getting some angry messages online is far from getting into any real type of trouble.
— — —
Most of the outrage is coming from a charity. Charity is good, so we don’t want to put them down. It’s an anti-bullying charity, and bullying is bad too, so their hearts are definitely in the right place as well. They say that this poster “aids in bullying”, but this poster is just a piece of paper with some ink on it. What aids in bullying is when parents mistreat and teach their children abusive behavior, or don’t talk to their children about other people’s feelings, or actually bully their own kids. Not posters. This is a classic case of finding something to be offended about instead of tackling the overlying issues. The sensitive police are out in full force.
Beware the PC Police. via south park
A representative from the gym said the main goal was really just to get people talking about fitness, so: HUGE SUCCESS.
“We really didn’t mean it offensively. It was supposed to be a bit cheeky, hence the alien image, and grab people’s attention in a couple of seconds. So many campaigns use ultra skinny people and that’s not the reality.” said the gym’s rep.
