# Weight Loss Commercials (argh)



## mel (Apr 3, 2012)

I get so aggitated when I hear a commercial for a weight loss system and there is always a woman on there saying how she never had confidence, wanted to have a relationship, didnt feel pretty, didnt feel comfortable to meet people, etc while she was overweight. 

I think it's pretty well known at this point that these programs do not normally work long term so until a person realizes they are beautiful,, smart and WORTHY no matter what their size is.. I think it's a continual set up for failure on their part and just a way for those businesses to make more profits. 

I understand it's hard as a person to feel down about themselves until they get EMPOWERED to believe in themselves ... I am just really getting pissed at constantly hearing these commercials telling people they cant fit in or be loved unless they are thin. 

ARGH!


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## penguin (Apr 3, 2012)

I hate seeing them. Not just because most of them promote what's essentially a starvation diet or other incorrect and unhealthy behaviours ("no need to exercise! The abs of your dreams are already there, just melt the fat off!"), but because of the message they send to my daughter. I've taught her that people come in all shapes and sizes and that's okay, but these ads undermine that. She'll make comments about how I can be thin like her. We exercise (walking to and from school) and we eat pretty well (I prefer to use any time and sometimes foods rather than good/bad or healthy/unhealthy), but she's still being bombarded with the message thin is good and fat is bad. I've talked to her about how it's more important to be healthy than thin, and that you can have healthy behaviours and feel good without being thin. I can only hope my messages stick. 

I want her to grow up with healthy self esteem and confidence and to know her looks and weight don't determine her worth. It's an uphill struggle.

What I hate the most about those ads is how tempting they are. That I can get sucked into the temptation of them. I won't, but the temptation is there.


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## imfree (Apr 3, 2012)

Those commercials are the main reason I don't use commercial radio and television. There are a few other areas of the broadcast media's "reality" that I find irritating, as well.


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## CastingPearls (Apr 3, 2012)

Claiming a product promotes weight loss when combined with diet and exercise is like claiming it grants wishes when used with a leprechaun.


You ever read the small print under these ads/commercials? 'People using product claimed to lose a total of 8 lbs. when used with diet and exercise in studies with people who didn't use the product (or diet and exercise)'. The diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry which is now one of, if not *the* biggest sponsor in media so it behooves them to manipulate western culture to make everyone hate themselves, hate anything fat and change it or they'll be miserable for all eternity.


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## Dr. Feelgood (Apr 4, 2012)

The masculine equivalents of weight-loss commercials are those macho truck ads that suggest your willy will fall off if you don't buy a Ford F-850 that comes with its own ZIP code. In either case, our only defense is to develop what Ernest Hemingway called "a damn good bullshit detector."


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## Captain Save (Apr 4, 2012)

The weight loss commercials are the indicator of how far the advertiser has missed the mark as far as I'm concerned. If I see a woman in such a commercial wearing a form fitting garment that shows off a sloping round belly I'm not going to think there's anything unusual or unattractive about her; I'll be thinking positive thoughts, if anything. The after picture always looks too contrived to be taken seriously, especially since most of us know it's not real. I've noticed, since I occasionally work midnights, that 3am to 6am sees to be one big weightloss ad marathon on most tv channels; I've gotten a few strange looks from people when they see the infomercial running with no sound.


CP, that leprechaun remark is going to remind me of Lucky Charms when next I see a weightloss pill being advertised...'they're magically delicious!'


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## CastingPearls (Apr 4, 2012)

Captain Save said:


> CP, that leprechaun remark is going to remind me of Lucky Charms when next I see a weightloss pill being advertised...'they're magically delicious!'



oooooh like this?


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## willowmoon (Apr 4, 2012)

CastingPearls said:


> oooooh like this?



If there was ever a "rub the blarney stone" comment to be made, it's probably now.


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## Captain Save (Apr 5, 2012)

With the ice cream on the side, how can a girl possibly resist the benefits of such a balanced breakfast? It's more rewarding than diet pills, you know.


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## imfree (Apr 5, 2012)

imfree said:


> Those commercials are the main reason I don't use commercial radio and television. There are a few other areas of the broadcast media's "reality" that I find irritating, as well.



Here's a nice article about second-hand television's influence on body-image, weight loss, eating disorders, and social group influence.


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## bigtim59 (Apr 5, 2012)

mel said:


> I get so aggitated when I hear a commercial for a weight loss system and there is always a woman on there saying how she never had confidence, wanted to have a relationship, didnt feel pretty, didnt feel comfortable to meet people, etc while she was overweight.
> 
> I think it's pretty well known at this point that these programs do not normally work long term so until a person realizes they are beautiful,, smart and WORTHY no matter what their size is.. I think it's a continual set up for failure on their part and just a way for those businesses to make more profits.
> 
> ...



I agree with you 100%.If you can,t be happy with yourself as a fat person you will not be happy when your thin either.


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## Ruffie (Apr 6, 2012)

What gets me even more is the segments on day time TV (Now that I am laid off work have had occasion to catch some of these) that are all about losing weight. The latest study on how this makes you fat, the latest "cleanse" , diet aids, workout and so on. I would not have a problem with these things if it was presented as a way to be healthier but rather like the ads its the slant that you need to do these things to be "acceptable" to society. It irks me because over the past year I have lost about 30 pounds and people outside my close circle of friends are cheerleading the weight loss and treating me differently. I am the same frigging person as I was a year ago and have slowly taken off weight in response to health issues not to gain anyones approval or become "skinny" . Yet that is the message we all get day in and day out as we go about our lives. 

I think we need to just shake our heads at the hype, take care of and love ourselves each day and help our young people to accept people based on their character not their dress size.


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## Kamily (Apr 6, 2012)

CastingPearls said:


> Claiming a product promotes weight loss when combined with diet and exercise is like claiming it grants wishes when used with a leprechaun.




:bow: Good one!!! 


Those commercials make me sick!!! I have confidence and Im pretty happy with myself the weight I am right now. I dont need to starve myself to fit into a size 0!


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## bbwprincess (Apr 6, 2012)

i especially hate on Janurary 1st new years the tv has millions of those gym and jenny craig commercials, it just annoys me so much. like the world is so obsessed with new years resolutions


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## ChickletsBBW (Apr 6, 2012)

I hate these commercials too.. especially from the women that have lost 25 lbs and would say the same things that they didn't have any confidence and just felt fat and didn't like they bodies and were embarrassed to wear a bathing suit.. omg LOL seriously?? haha

I want to say, well lady, dont mind me while I go put my happy phat ass into a 2 piece and get my smiling face into that welcoming pool!!


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## FatAndProud (Apr 6, 2012)

I'm weird. I don't watch tv, unless I visit my mom's house. Even then, I walk away when the tv is on - especially, infomercials!


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## Lamia (Apr 7, 2012)

The commercial that made me laugh the most was this very thin woman and her claim that "I've actually lost about two lbs"....

This was back in the 80s....


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## LeoGibson (Apr 7, 2012)

Dr. Feelgood said:


> The masculine equivalents of weight-loss commercials are those macho truck ads that suggest your willy will fall off if you don't buy a Ford F-850 that comes with its own ZIP code. In either case, our only defense is to develop what Ernest Hemingway called "a damn good bullshit detector."



OMG they have an F-850 now? I am sporting some serious wood, where can I get one, I need to have one now, lest I become impotent. The F-550 in the driveway is no longer enough, I can feel my manhood wilting away as I type. Now you absolutely see why one must be had!!


**Yes, for those of you sarcastically challenged, this was indeed a use of sarcasm!*


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## musicman (Apr 7, 2012)

CastingPearls said:


> The diet industry is a multi-billion dollar industry which is now one of, if not *the* biggest sponsor in media so it behooves them to manipulate western culture to make everyone hate themselves, hate anything fat and change it or they'll be miserable for all eternity.



CP, that is the best one-sentence explanation for the imaginary "obesity epidemic" that I have ever seen. We need to make everyone understand that it's all about the $$$$$, and it has nothing to do with health or concern for other people. There's really nothing else to it.


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## CrystalDiorDoll (Apr 8, 2012)

those jenny craig tv ads are the worse sitting around sobbing the one lady was scared to buy clothes basically saying if youre big you dont deserve to fix yourself up lol! my 31 yrold daughter is a part of his propaganda shes 5ft7 160 lbs 1/2 morrocan my neighbor is from india she always says my daughter looks like parvati if you were to hear her speak shes 4ft tall 700lbs sz 13 ft she has a very distorted image of herself


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## MissAshley (May 8, 2012)

While it's probably not very common, I think it's *possible* for some people that their weight is the sole reason for keeping their confidence at bay. Some people do lose weight and suddenly feel confident, just as some people get a boob job, or dye their hair and suddenly feel more confident. I wouldn't say all confidence issues are deeply rooted.


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## KHayes666 (May 9, 2012)

The only commercials that drive me nuts are the ones where men and women are like 120-130 pounds and trumpet they've lost 20-30 pounds. I weighed 152 pounds my senior year of high school at 5 foot 8 and I was in the best shape of my life to be at that weight. You mean to tell me a woman around 5'5 and 145 pounds is "overweight"? That's what society is today?

These fools that go by BMI and looks really don't know what they are talking about. True health can't be measured on a scale, only by how someone feels. I haven't weighed myself since February 2004 and until I can't run up my stairs I see no reason to ever weigh myself again.


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## MissAshley (May 9, 2012)

KHayes666 said:


> The only commercials that drive me nuts are the ones where men and women are like 120-130 pounds and trumpet they've lost 20-30 pounds. I weighed 152 pounds my senior year of high school at 5 foot 8 and I was in the best shape of my life to be at that weight. You mean to tell me a woman around 5'5 and 145 pounds is "overweight"? That's what society is today?
> 
> These fools that go by BMI and looks really don't know what they are talking about. True health can't be measured on a scale, only by how someone feels. I haven't weighed myself since February 2004 and until I can't run up my stairs I see no reason to ever weigh myself again.



Health is more than bmi but it's also more than how someone feels. You can feel fine and die the next day from an illness you have had for years, seen it happen.


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## riplee (May 10, 2012)

I have to admit that I never expected to see Charles Barkley in a dress pitching a weight loss program.


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## Shotha (May 30, 2012)

I live in New Zealand and we get these utterly bigotted weight loss adverts here too. I hate in particular the ones for exercise devices that not only make you lose weight but trim you abs into washboards and get rid of lovehandles. Noticed how bigots always talk as if they talk for everyone? My most hated ad starts with the line, "Want to get rid of those lovehandles that nobody loves..." It makes me fume how dare they speak for me and others. Whoever came up with the term "lovehandles" can't have been a fat-hater. It was someone who knew what they are for. Does anyone else know the ad I mean, because it was made in America? I'd love to know the advertising company responsible for it so that I can send the a brickbat.


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## EMH1701 (May 30, 2012)

The problem is that so many women have been essentially brainwashed to believe they need to be thin to be beautiful, so many women are not confident because they are not thin. This is the sad fact of our culture.

I just change the channel whenever a weight-loss ad comes on.


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## EMH1701 (May 30, 2012)

bbwprincess said:


> i especially hate on Janurary 1st new years the tv has millions of those gym and jenny craig commercials, it just annoys me so much. like the world is so obsessed with new years resolutions



This is because weight loss products are now considered a seasonal product, much like cough/cold products are considered a seasonal product in the winter or suncare is considered seasonal in the summer. I work for a grocery store company in advertising support in the corporate office. They run those ads in January for a reason. They're usually run with other health-related products, like multivitamins.


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## gunther (May 30, 2012)

I'd love to have an Insanity T-shirt in XXXL.


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## PeanutButterfly (May 31, 2012)

What bothers me the most about weight-loss commercials and celebrity weight loss in general is the obsession that comes along with it. I'm all for people wanting to be healthy and happy with themselves but I find it sad when they use the energy they used to channel into their art into their weight loss. I haven't seen Jennifer Hudson, an incredibly talented woman, do anything but weigh watchers commercials for the past two years. Where are her movies? Record deals? It makes me really sad because it seems like her whole life revovles around her Weight Watchers campaign. 

Similarly a singer (who I won't name because she was a size acceptance advocate as well) who I loved and admired has recently become obsessive about her weight loss too. Instead of posting about her music, her facebook wall is now cluttered with info about her diet and exercise routines. I'm not talking a simple plug, but rather before/after pictures and measurements several times a month. Last time I looked in the past 5 statuses she made 1 was about her music and 4 were about her weight loss. I eventually had to stop following her. Something happens to people when they lose a lot of weight, even people who swore they were happy being big. They stop focusing on what matters and instead the numbers on the scale.


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## Tad (May 31, 2012)

PeanutButterfly said:


> They stop focusing on what matters and instead the numbers on the scale.



In my job I've learned that people will generally bend their behavior to what they are measured on (and implicitly: rewarded/punished for). Which means you have to be careful in a lot of jobs, if you, say, measure a call centre operator on how short they can make their interactions, but don't measure them on customer satisfaction.....you can bet the calls will be quick, but don't count on the customers not being steamed.

I think the same happens with weight loss. You can measure it, you get a lot of positive feedback on it, it becomes easy for it to seem like the thing that really matters, because it is the thing that everyone comments on


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## universalman (May 31, 2012)

I love the commercials, because I get the see the before pictures.


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## Lizzie (May 31, 2012)

CastingPearls said:


> Claiming a product promotes weight loss when combined with diet and exercise is like claiming it grants wishes when used with a leprechaun.



I think this may be my new favorite quote. 

I hate these commercials with a passion. They set forth a virtually unattainable goal and state that the viewer is somehow less valuable/attractive/whatever as a person unless they reach this goal. And of course, if you want to be valuable and attractive and buy their product to accomplish this, there is the small print "results not typical". If I'm going to spend my hard-earned money to buy a product to achieve a given result, that result had damn well better be typical.

All that aside, it's really heartbreaking to see how shallow we have become. The ugliest people I've known are not ugly because of any aspect of their appearance. The most beautiful people I've known are not beautiful because of how they look. I've been attracted to people that I never would have imagined I'd find attractive simply because they are who they are. There is more to life than a number on a scale.


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## imfree (May 31, 2012)

universalman said:


> I love the commercials, because I get the see the before pictures.



I get depressed when I see those commercials. These days, it seems to me, the "before" subjects are at a healthier weight than the "after" subjects and I get depressed from their portrayal of such thinness as being prerequisite for a being decent person. What have we become? It's a grand illusion and there's no satisfaction to be had! Selling personal dissatisfaction and offering a cure for a price is a huge business, these days.


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## ClashCityRocker (Jun 4, 2012)

Shotha said:


> I live in New Zealand and we get these utterly bigotted weight loss adverts here too. I hate in particular the ones for exercise devices that not only make you lose weight but trim you abs into washboards and get rid of lovehandles. Noticed how bigots always talk as if they talk for everyone? My most hated ad starts with the line, "Want to get rid of those lovehandles that nobody loves..." It makes me fume how dare they speak for me and others. Whoever came up with the term "lovehandles" can't have been a fat-hater. It was someone who knew what they are for. Does anyone else know the ad I mean, because it was made in America? I'd love to know the advertising company responsible for it so that I can send the a brickbat.



i'm not sure that i've seen that one, but a while ago there ran an ad that stated "belly fat is unsightly and unattractive.." i would've laughed had it not been so tactless and ignorant. for the record, there's nothing more attractive than a woman who embraces her bellyfat..and lovehandles are termed as such for a reason. :bow:


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## CastingPearls (Jun 4, 2012)

Relax guys, I got this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxpcGT7kSoE


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## Prince Dyscord (Jun 9, 2012)

Oh these piss me off. For the record, I have no issue with people wanting to lose weight. However I hate how they're always like "look at this slim, sexy body you could have!" and crap like that. As if you'd have to be crazy to be fat and happy. Or dare I say "sexy". 

And don't get me started about that guy a few years ago who "gave his fat clothes to his fat friends". UGH!


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## krystalltuerme (Jun 10, 2012)

CastingPearls said:


> Relax guys, I got this:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxpcGT7kSoE



I loved this video! Really liked 2:02


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