Protein World is not a brand I’d ever heard of. I don’t read fitness magazines, I don’t go to the gym. I run and walk my dog. Fitness blog or magazines are not my thing. Getting ripped is not for me with my current work regime. It’s only when the backlash happened I learnt about the advert.
Here’s the advert
It’s pretty standard advert fare. There’s nothing new or unusual about it. It’s the standard skinny white girl in a bikini. Nothing to get upset over or so I thought. Some Feminists thought otherwise.
Here’s Buzzfeed’s thought on the advert and for balance here’s the other side. There are lots of other sites with other opinions out there. Also here’s the models response.
I personally feel this advert is about as standard as you get. It’s boring. Had I seen this I’d have ignored it totally. It would have been daily wallpaper. It’s the backlash that’s brought this to mine and many other people’s attention. So I had to question why I ignore it and why I might agree or disagree with the backlash.
I ignore it because it’s not aimed at me. It’s really not. It’s aimed at people who go to the gym, who lift, who want that shape. I ignore it because I see it daily. I can’t tell you how much I just don’t care about adverts like this.
Why I don’t agree with the backlash is because it’s ridiculous. This advert is not telling anyone they’re fat. It asks if you’re beach body ready and gives an example of what they think is their version of it. That doesn’t mean it’s the only example. Yes, this example is seen more often than others but use your common sense. An advert is going to use the thing that is seen by the people they’re selling to as the ideal (whether or not it’s actually ideal is up for debate), is that wrong? No.
Is the backlash funny? Yes. Does the backlash have a point in our overall society? Yes. Does that mean the backlash is wrong? No. Does that mean the advert is wrong? No. Should it be removed? No.
Yes, it’s an overused trope but no it’s not offensive in my opinion.
Of course, there are trolls on both sides of the argument of this. Abuse is being sprouted on both sides of the argument. Some of the not so great response are coming from the company themselves. Neither side looks good at this point but this all happened as I was looking for a way to get myself back on track. As part of looking at all of this, I looked at the website. I looked at the reviews of the product being advertised and while it’s expensive, it seems to have in general a good reception. So I’ve bought the Weight Loss Collection. All because of the backlash.
If what you were doing was trying to get me enraged about another boring advert you’re doing it wrong. You made them interesting. You focused my attention on them and what they’re selling is far more attractive to me.