Overweight models (legs, product, Walmart, girl)

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

I don't like alcohol advertising, for one of the reasons I dislike models being obese.

I also have a problem with advertising for prescription drugs.

I don't understand why women don't seem to mind ads for ED products. Diaper brands might irk me, but ads for them seem to know how to target interested viewers and not appear on the types of shows I watch.

Really?

[silibran]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

I unhappily saw this yesterday, when I was shopping for a skincare product.
https://www.target.com/b/auden/-/N-mg0o7?lnk=Auden

The woman in the middle. She's more than 200 pounds and possibly morbidly obese. It's glamorized, like life can be enjoyable that way. Not for long. It's not going to make someone want to gain weight, but messages like that make some people not bother to lose weight, even though for health alone they should. That's reckless to society. I'm going to minimize purchases from businesses that I think are bad for this world.

I saw the same ad, and moved on.

Showing pics of women who are larger than what we are used to seeing in ads will not motivate anyone to gain weight.

What I gather from many of the posts in this thread is a lot of judgement wrapped up in platitudes about health and well being.

I just posted recently in another thread about how hard it was for those of us who had the “fat gene” to keep the pounds off. In order for fat phobic people to not be grossed out, those of us who struggle with weight gain, must monitor every bite we eat, must decline all treat foods pushed our way by home cooks, must eat less than we really want. It is a daily struggle, and it never eases up. But whatever our size, we deserve decent, stylish clothing. It is beyond me why anyone would begrudge fellow humans this basic thing.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by iknowftbll

Case in point: just a couple weeks ago I was taking my wife out for lunch. A gay couple was sitting near where we were standing in line and one guy said "to his partner" (I used quotes because it was obvious he wanted us to hear him) something to the tune of "I just don't see why a guy would want to put his D in a woman that fat."

Wow. That's awful, and I hate that you and your wife were subjected to that level of ignorance and hate.

I wonder what they'd have done if anyone had wondered the same about their partners?

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

These ads say it is ok to be fat.

Wrong again! These ads are saying "We have bras that fit you!" Nothing more.

Originally Posted by goodheathen

When it's on the homepage of a major retailer or on TV or such, then yes, I think it does glamorize being overweight and probably makes some women think, "I'm big and beautiful," I could be a mode,l" etc., instead of focusing more on being healthy.

This poor argument is becoming tiresome. Even if every overweight person changed his or her eating habits immediately, you know what? They still have to wear clothes until they get there!

Originally Posted by goodheathen

Why should people think they're "beautiful" (or, to include men in the discussion, "very attractive") when to most others they're not?

You must have flunked kindergarten, because isn't "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" one of those things you learn there?

Originally Posted by Ralph_Kirk

They are promoting "Be like this model."

They are promoting underwear. Nothing more.

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

Not trying to be insensitive

Guess what? You failed.

Originally Posted by goodheathen

Also, many overweight people have some nice physical features.

Golly gee, aren't you swell?

Originally Posted by goodheathen

I said I'll be voting with my feet. Dove is a brand I probably wouldn't buy even if I didn't think its products are slightly worse than what I use, and I find Target's new behavior worse. But I'd prefer that companies pay attention to discussions like this and not force consumers not browsing for those product categories to see the obesity-acceptance advertising.

It is my fervent hope that the number of stores and brands you find acceptable dwindles to zero.

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

I get what you are saying but just b/c there is a market for it, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.

Um ... If you're a for-profit company, selling products to meet market demand is the right thing to do.

I understand businesses need to make profits and sell their clothes … but this is literally @ the expense of people's health.

I'll ignore your crocodile tears over people's health to ask: What should overweight people do to avoid offending you? Stay home and shop only online and only through online stores that have a "fat" password so others don't have to look at the models? Or should they just walk around naked?

Originally Posted by Jdawg8181

I get fat people need clothes … I am of course not saying they should be naked .. but there needs to be a way to feature these women and still get the idea out there that while there ARE stylish clothes for them, the stores are not condoning the lifestyle … a disclaimer or something on the ad.

LMAO. What kind of "disclaimer" did you have in mind? At what size does it start?

Originally Posted by goodheathen

Upon reflection, there's also some squeamishness (about the models in underwear) similar to how I feel about seeing tampon ads. Companies should be careful not showing ads like that to people who aren't going to be buying the products.

Pass that on to Viagra and its ilk, would you please? I'm kinda getting tired of those ads.

[glass_of_merlot]

Originally Posted by gypsyjudy

How do you feel about the recent trend with overweight models? I was just viewing my local Target ad online and was taken aback by the very overweight lingerie and athletic models featured. I found this very unappealing, personally. I've been fat, and I have been thin, but, personally, I prefer to see thinner models. Buy, hey, that's just me. Also, why do you NOT see overweight men models. My family and I have noticed that we ONLY see overweight women. Just curious.

Just stop it already. Target target customers are women of all sizes, and many of them want to see models looking more like them. I really don't get comments like yours. It's a freaking TARGET catalog. Target! Smh..

[steiconi]

I like plus size models because I can see how clothes will look on me.

I've long suspected that people hate what they dislike about themselves.
If you talk about hating fat people or hating to look at them, I'm going to assume you're afraid of being fat. Or you are fat, and hate yourself for it. Poor you. Get help.

[LLCNYC]

Man...you can count the people who are taking this veryyyyyy personally and have turned this into a war on the rights of thin vs. overweight people .

Anyway, most people couldnt care less if "models" are 1000 lbs or 5.

[jade408]

Originally Posted by saibot

You're probably right about this. However, people, especially parents, do have concerns about excess weight being normalized in our culture and their children growing up thinking that overweight or obese = healthy and normal. They're concerned about their children, not the obese person in the ad.

Going to great lengths to be excessively thin is not healthy or normal either. There has rightly been a reaction against anorexic-appearing models and actresses being set before our children as standards. Neither obese nor anorexic is healthy, and neither is beautiful in my opinion.

However, some people ARE naturally extremely thin and yet healthy, just as some are naturally quite heavy and fairly healthy, too. I don't see a huge problem with a few models from either extreme being featured, as long as the vast majority are "normal weight" people as defined by BMI. I do object to the idea that "since the majority of Americans are overweight/obese, being overweight/obese is now 'normal' and acceptable in every way."

Overweight people hear more than often enough that being overweight is terrible, a scorn to society and basically the worst thing ever. Heaven forbid there are 30 seconds during the day where you wouldn't have to think about it because someone who looks more like you in an ad.

[Rocko20]

I couldn't care less about fat people beyond the eyesore they give me in public, the ER bills they rack up from taxpayers, the lack of pride they have for their own body, and the overweight models I'm bombarded with on social media.

But at the end of the day, this county's overall health is going down the drain and we will all pay for it with our tax money.

There's no politician, social program, movement, revolution, etc. that's going to reverse the bleak statistics of overweight people in this country. Any fat person can go to the gym, but the pain it takes to get back into shape makes them avoid it altogether.

[saibot]

Originally Posted by steiconi

I've long suspected that people hate what they dislike about themselves.

A simplistic idea that leads to all sorts of of ridiculous assumptions. Did the Nazis hate Jews because they themselves were all secretly Jewish?

Being concerned about the obesity crisis =/= hating fat people.

[sheena12]

Originally Posted by Sundaydrive00

So what, you think stores should hide there plus side sections in backrooms or behind curtains so that you don't have to see such things?

Or should plus sizes be an online-only thing so you don't even have to run the risk of seeing obese people in public?

In lower to mid grade stores the "Women's Department" (Large size department) is not hidden at all. It's the first "female" clothes department that one sees, when you enter that part of the store.

If you have ever been to a Walmart or the JCP in my part of Ohio, where I now live the first clothes a women shopper will see when entering the store is "Women's" (large size).

Next will be a rather large Junior department - mostly made for teens and very young women. The styles are over the top trendy, the colors are loud, and the styles revealing and silly - especially in cheap stores. I don't do much shopping in either, but a pair of black tights, a work out outfit or leggings are the same any where. Unless you are in the "Gym Fashion Pageant" which I have not decided to participate in. I don't care where I get work out clothes. For me they are a "necessary evil".

So, the "Women's" Department is absolutely not hidden.

In our local mall there are also Macy's and Dillards. Large sizes are not front and center but they certainly are not hidden.

There is also a store called "The Avenue" and another shop that caters to larger younger women (Torrid) and yet another for large sized women - (the name escapes me)
Sears is going out of business but I think half of their female clothes were devoted to large sizes.

I think women size 20 and above or in the "X" category, have a good selection around here. There is also Target, TJMaxx, Burlington, and on the high end Talbots. I think Talbots makes clothes for everyone who dresses in that style and is a classic dresser with a bit of cash.