Gillette ad features an unapologetic fat woman in a swimsuit; heads explode (See Staff Post)

duckroll · Apr 8, 2019

ZealousD said:
Obesity is a disease. We should treat obesity the same way we treat other diseases. We shouldn't shame or insult people who have diseases. But we also shouldn't celebrate disease as a "different body type".

Like the comparison to leprosy is actually apt. I wouldn't point fingers or shame somebody with leprosy. But I wouldn't go "rah rah, you're a leper, and that's okay! You just have a different body type!" That's ridiculous.

This is an ad for a shaver. You buy a shaver to shave. You shave because you want to have control over your skin and how much body hair you feel comfortable with. Shaving can make someone feel good about themselves and can be empowering and refreshing, regardless of what other troubles you might have with your body. Self-image is important. Obesity isn't something everyone can fix overnight, and is something that is already part of society and should be be hidden away.

This ad is not a celebration of accepting obesity as an ideal, but rather accepting that someone can have good self-image and feel good about a part of themselves regardless of anything else. That is human dignity. I assure you that no one will look at that ad and think "I wanna be fat too!" but maybe someone will look at that ad and think "regardless of anything I might struggle with, I can be happy too because she is happy" and THAT is a win.

KHarvey16 · Apr 8, 2019

Heckler456 said:
Why defend a commercial?

Oh I'm with you! Obese people these days have it too easy, especially obese women wearing swimsuits at a beach. This commercial is just one more example of society just not paying enough attention to body image.

____ · Apr 8, 2019

So no fat people allowed in ads according to 60% of this thread.

Got it. Smh.

Heckler456 · Apr 8, 2019

Inuhanyou said:
I think gillets intent(as they have been on a progressive PR campaign recently) is to glorify the woman as a person and show that she is a human being and has dignity despite not being our societies typical definition of beauty. I get that and its commendable message on an empowerment level.

However, it also has the potential send a different more damaging message inadvertently regarding the realities regarding health and the danger of glorifying unhealthy lifestyles. In America especially which has this issue regarding excess or obsession due to various issues such as depression or what not, it should be looked at more carefully to not be seen as glorifying that message as opposed to the original intent.

TLDR : Everyone who is insulting this woman due to her body type should fuck off. But having pride in being slightly overweight is different from being unhealthily obese and that should be distinguished as a health issue rather than an image issue.

Well, let's not kid ourselves here. Gillette's intent here is to market their product. The message, while potentially positive, is almost always incidental.

woman · Apr 8, 2019

Zhukov said:
a grotesque mockery of the human form

whew tell us how u really feel

Plainswalker · Apr 8, 2019

duckroll said:
This ad is not a celebration of accepting obesity as an ideal, but rather accepting that someone can have good self-image and feel good about a part of themselves regardless of anything else. That is human dignity. I assure you that no one will look at that ad and think "I wanna be fat too!" but maybe someone will look at that ad and think "regardless of anything I might struggle with, I can be happy too because she is happy" and THAT is a win.

I don't get why this is that hard for people to understand. There are some incredibly shitty takes in this thread and people should be ashamed of themselves.

Tfritz · Apr 8, 2019

Fat Women: *exist*
A Bunch Of Men, Crawling Out Of The Woodwork: how dare you glorify obesity like this

julian · Apr 8, 2019

Fat people should never look happy in an ad!!

...wait, what?

nemoral · Apr 8, 2019

As always the thread's going to be full of people who hate fat people pretending they care about fat people's health, and that's why they make them miserable and suicidal. We see you, we see through you, and fuck you.

Zhukov · Apr 8, 2019

woman said:
whew tell us how u really feel

I just did.

Tell me, do you want to look like that?

Do you want to experience the accompanying health issues?

Heart of Poumn · Apr 8, 2019

bane833 said:
Yes. Have you ever seen an ad where someone is shooting heroine or popping pills that says go out there and slay the day? There is absolutely nothing positive about being morbidly obese like this.

Did you get a different version of the ad where she's shooting Outback Steakhouse Bloomin' Onions at the beach?

Loudninja · Apr 8, 2019

Trickster said:
Driveby posts aren't gonna help much in that regard.

Its quite telling how some of you view this as promotion obesity not just having a big person in an ad.

woman · Apr 8, 2019

Zhukov said:
I just did.

Tell me, do you want to look like that?

Do you want to experience the accompanying health issues?

"grotesque mockery"

this disgusting, dehumanizing language has no place in this forum

Border · Apr 8, 2019

Is this an actual print ad that's running on magazines and billboards? Or just a tweet?

Trickster · Apr 8, 2019

Loudninja said:
Its quite telling how some of you view this as promotion obesity not just having a big person in an ad.

The tweet VERY openly promotes the fact that she is overweight

Heckler456 · Apr 8, 2019

KHarvey16 said:
Oh I'm with you! Obese people these days have it too easy, especially obese women wearing swimsuits at a beach. This commercial is just one more example of society just not paying enough attention to body image.

I mean, I was bullied for over a decade back in high school for being obese, and it left me with a ton of anxiety and depression. I'm still obese, mind you, but I know how difficult obese people have it.

That being said, what isn't going to help anyone is normalizing it as just another "body type". And sure, this is just one commercial, but you can't brush away people being critical of the inherent message of the commercial by saying "it's just one commercial".

Inuhanyou · Apr 8, 2019

Heckler456 said:
Well, let's not kid ourselves here. Gillette's intent here is to market their product. The message, while potentially positive, is almost always incidental.

Well i did say it was a PR campaign. its obvious cynical as a marketing ploy to get two sides talking about their brand. But it doesnt make the message itself any less worthy of introspection and commendation despite some of my reservations.

Karasseram · Apr 8, 2019

Good on her if shes happy. But the list of why you shouldn't be obese is miles long and includes such things as amputating foot from diabetes and early death and a mile long list of pain and misery.

Bad diets kill a lot of people. Lets not parade it around like it's something to be proud about.

Zhukov · Apr 8, 2019

woman said:
"grotesque mockery"

this disgusting, dehumanizing language has no place in this forum

I stand by those words. I expect to get mod wrath, but so be it.

Care to answer my question while we're waiting?
- Do you want to look like that?
- Do you want to experience the accompanying health issues?
- If not, why not?

woman · Apr 8, 2019

Trickster said:
The tweet VERY openly promotes the fact that she is overweight

Because she's happy? lol

Inugami · Apr 8, 2019

"It's about promoting something unhealthy" yet, we never have any threads hating on things like this...

Or

Maybe people are just desensitized since this stuff is so common, but it doesn't change the fact that singling out a large woman who's not advertising anything that actually made her unhealthy is hypocritical... More so since following the comments on the ad, it's pretty clear most people aren't trying to hide the real reason.

RustyNails · Apr 8, 2019

gutter_trash said:
That's over doing it lol.

I thought it was gonna a be about an average slightly overweight woman but nope, Gillette goes full TLC

Yeah wtf.

KHarvey16 · Apr 8, 2019

Heckler456 said:
I mean, I was bullied for over a decade back in high school for being obese, and it left me with a ton of anxiety and depression. I'm still obese, mind you, but I know how difficult obese people have it.

That being said, what isn't going to help anyone is normalizing it as just another "body type". And sure, this is just one commercial, but you can't brush away people being critical of the inherent message of the commercial by saying "it's just one commercial".

No exactly, no one will know it's best to try and not be obese if this is allowed to continue.

We should only expose the masses to healthy beautiful people so they will know what they must be to not feel shame.

Plainswalker · Apr 8, 2019

Trickster said:
The tweet VERY openly promotes the fact that she is overweight

Oh really? So is simply having the image of an overweight person on the internet promoting it? Should they wrap themselves in thirty layers and never leave the house, because oh no, somebody might see an actual FAT person and think that's ok!!!!

SugarNoodles · Apr 8, 2019

Diunx said:
Yeah...I'm not really into turning obesity into an aceptable thing, sorry Gillete.

And I'm sure you were on the front lines when Chris Farley was normalizing obesity on SNL every weekend, right?

Right??

woman · Apr 8, 2019

Zhukov said:
I stand by those words. I expect to get mod wrath, but so be it.

Care to answer my question while we're waiting?
- Do you want to look like that?
- Do you want to experience the accompanying health issues?
- If not, why not?

No, but I also don't want to be a drug addict

And yet I don't call them grotesque

you have some issues you need to sort out, I suggest you go ahead and do that instead of hurling abuse at human beings

Inuhanyou · Apr 8, 2019

Tfritz said:
Fat Women: *exist*
A Bunch Of Men, Crawling Out Of The Woodwork: how dare you glorify obesity like this

I don't think this is particularly fair as a take. I'm sure there are bad faith actors out there, but generalizing anyone who has reservations with the ad doesn't seem conductive toward anything either.

Antrax · Apr 8, 2019

Inuhanyou said:
that should be distinguished as a health issue rather than an image issue.

No one ever does this. Like my wife always points out, whenever she loses weight, nobody says "oh you look so healthy!" It's always about image, and regardless of what they'd say, everyone shaming the woman in the ad only cares what she looks like.

Piece of advice; someone's health is between them and their doctor. If you aren't their doctor, then fuck right off.

Tfritz · Apr 8, 2019

nemoral said:
As always the thread's going to be full of people who hate fat people pretending they care about fat people's health, and that's why they make them miserable and suicidal. We see you, we see through you, and fuck you.

look, i may not have any formal medical training, or any particular interest in keeping up with health topics, but i'm here to tell you that this woman who i have never met and whose medical history i do not know is extremely unhealthy

HylianSeven · Apr 8, 2019

Tfritz said:
Fat Women: *exist*
A Bunch Of Men, Crawling Out Of The Woodwork: how dare you glorify obesity like this

This. I don't see how letting someone comfortable in their own body be on an advertisement is "glorifying obesity".

Loudninja · Apr 8, 2019

Inuhanyou said:
I don't think this is particularly fair as a take.

How is it not going by this nasty shit I am seeing in this thread?sigh

Nell · Apr 8, 2019

duckroll said:
This is an ad for a shaver. You buy a shaver to shave. You shave because you want to have control over your skin and how much body hair you feel comfortable with. Shaving can make someone feel good about themselves and can be empowering and refreshing, regardless of what other troubles you might have with your body. Self-image is important. Obesity isn't something everyone can fix overnight, and is something that is already part of society and should be be hidden away.

This ad is not a celebration of accepting obesity as an ideal, but rather accepting that someone can have good self-image and feel good about a part of themselves regardless of anything else. That is human dignity. I assure you that no one will look at that ad and think "I wanna be fat too!" but maybe someone will look at that ad and think "regardless of anything I might struggle with, I can be happy too because she is happy" and THAT is a win.

Thank you! Some posters in this thread think that this ad will normalize obesity and make people want to be fat. So bizarre. No one wants to be obese.

capitalCORN · Apr 8, 2019

Zhukov said:
I stand by those words. I expect to get mod wrath, but so be it.

Care to answer my question while we're waiting?
- Do you want to look like that?
- Do you want to experience the accompanying health issues?
- If not, why not?

I mean. More than anything, Obesity is a personal issue more than anything. And as much as people bemoan being trapped in consumer culture, why is it so hard to extend the same hand to people who are overweight?

Zhukov · Apr 8, 2019

woman said:
No

Why not?

And yet I don't call them grotesque

I chose that word very deliberately.

grotesque
/ɡrə(ʊ)ˈtɛsk/
adjective
1.
comically or repulsively ugly or distorted.

It's precisely accurate.

Sandfox · Apr 8, 2019

Trickster said:
The tweet VERY openly promotes the fact that she is overweight

I mean the follow up tweet does, but I'm guessing that was in response to the comments people were leaving. The actual ad itself doesn't mention it at all.

Einchy · Apr 8, 2019

Tfritz said:
look, i may not have any formal medical training, or any particular interest in keeping up with health topics, but i'm here to tell you that this woman who i have never met and whose medical history i do not know is extremely unhealthy

Wait, are you actually arguing that being that obese can be perfectly healthy?

Tfritz · Apr 8, 2019

admittedly it is pretty funny for a razor ad to be all "love your body, but also like buy our product and shave your body hair!"

BossAttack · Apr 8, 2019

Heckler456 said:
Prime example of this, imo. They're counting on people getting outraged, which means free word of mouth for them.

Speaking as an obese person, obesity is an epidemic, and shouldn't be included in the conversation of body acceptance, imo. That not to say that that person shouldn't be loved, of course.

Yep.

Biestmann · Apr 8, 2019

Showing that these people exist isn't promoting obesity. You lot are showing your asses big time. Everyone deserves to be represented, even obese, even morbidly obese people.

Nepenthe · Apr 8, 2019

KojiKnight said:
"It's about promoting something unhealthy" yet, we never have any threads hating on things like this...

Forget alcohol. I never see any outrage about soda ads, and we all know soda is just absolute shit for you. How dare Coca-Cola advertise their sugary death water to families, especially during the holidays with those misleading polar bear ads?

KHarvey16 · Apr 8, 2019

I'm here on this internet forum dedicated to video games to tell you all we should only promote lifestyles that lead to the least amount of health care expenditures we possibly can.

Trickster · Apr 8, 2019

woman said:
Because she's happy? lol

Plainswalker said:
Oh really? So is simply having the image of an overweight person on the internet promoting it? Should they wrap themselves in thirty layers and never leave the house, because oh no, somebody might see an actual FAT person and think that's ok!!!!

No, it's because there is text that go along with the image, which make it very clear that the message is about promoting her weight as something beautiful that "deserves" to be shown

HylianSeven · Apr 8, 2019

I don't really understand why the tweets are in a spoiler tag. It's not like the ad is NSFW.

Zhukov · Apr 8, 2019

capitalCORN said:
I mean. More than anything, Obesity is a personal issue more than anything.

I'd argue that it's also a public health issue, but sure, it's personal as well.

And as much as people bemoan being trapped in consumer culture, why is it so hard to extend the same hand to people who are overweight?

Not quite sure what you're getting at here. Can you elaborate?

CloseTalker · Apr 8, 2019

Trickster said:
The tweet VERY openly promotes the fact that she is overweight

It promotes the fact that she's happy despite being overweight, it doesn't promote the act of being overweight. It promotes confidence and self esteem, which is the thing that society from every single angle, including dozens of posts on this thread, have been steadily eroding from women for decades.

It promotes the idea of being able to be happy and confident despite what issues you're dealing with. Just like you're able to be a happy, confident person despite being ignorant.

julian · Apr 8, 2019

Antrax said:
No one ever does this. Like my wife always points out, whenever she loses weight, nobody says "oh you look so healthy!" It's always about image, and regardless of what they'd say, everyone shaming the woman in the ad only cares what she looks like.

Piece of advice; someone's health is between them and their doctor. If you aren't their doctor, then fuck right off.

Yeah, the ad is very clearly about not being ashamed to be in public and showing your skin. It has literally nothing to do with whether being obese is healthy. People are obese - that's just reality. They shouldn't feel shame to be out in public or openly mocked if they want a tan or to go swimming.

SapientWolf · Apr 8, 2019

Can't help but feel that Gillette isn't truly sincere about their commitment to representing women of all sizes, because when this campaign is over they're going to continue using thin models in 99% of their ads, and slightly curvier women in the other 1%.

And of course they're breaking their arm patting themselves on the back over how progressive they are. If they were truly progressive they wouldn't be making a campaign about how progressive they are for deviating from their normal ads.

Wazzy · Apr 8, 2019

Is this the typical fat shamer thread where men have to comment on womens weight because they need everyone to be fuckable?

Zhukov said:
Why not?

I chose that word very deliberately.

grotesque
/ɡrə(ʊ)ˈtɛsk/
adjective
1.
comically or repulsively ugly or distorted.

You're seriously a fucking disgusting asshole.

People like you have no idea what this kind of language does to people who are overweight. I have family that are extremely overweight and it only gets worse because of assholes like you.

-JD- · Apr 8, 2019

I suppose that's a demographic that Gillette has yet to exploit until now. About time, I guess. At one point, every Personal Care/Lifestyle brand tries. Dove, Hanes, etc. Reactions to it are usually the same. Not any different now.

KHarvey16 · Apr 8, 2019

If people aren't forced by all aspects of society to be miserable how will they change??!

Gillette ad features an unapologetic fat woman in a swimsuit; heads explode (See Staff Post)

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