Original Ad:
The original ad above ran by WeightWatchers, an international company based in the United States of America, was released in 2014 as a way to promote their weight loss products and services to people looking to shed some of their excess weight and supposedly take a step towards a healthier lifestyle. The advert displays two doors adjacent the WeightWatchers sign, with the one on the left and right depicted as the program’s ‘Entrance’ and ‘Exit’ doors, respectively. Upon further inspection however, it would seem that this ad is mostly targeted towards people with larger and heavier frames, possibly middle-aged adults who have put on a bit more size than they would like over the years, as they would be the ones more predisposed to losing weight.
The juxtaposition presented between the much larger and wider entrance door on the left and the smaller and thinner exit door on the right also exaggerates the proposed effectiveness and benefits of their programs, as though if one were to follow their programs, they would automatically see results and become a more slender, fitter person that would be able to fit through the ridiculously skinny door on the right. Not to mention, such a drastic comparison between the two doors provides a greater, longer-lasting first impression towards its targeted audience, which could have been implemented in order to motivate these people even more to sign up for their services, so that they can purportedly start slimming down now and achieve their goals much faster. In this way, WeightWatchers is suggesting that one would have to sign up with them in order to be slim and skinny, and overall be seen as acceptable in society’s standards.
Jammed Ad:
In my reconstructed, jammed version of the original 2014 WeightWatchers advertisement, I kept my edits largely simple as I only changed the “Entrance” and “Exit” labels for each door to “Bad” and “Good” respectively. Here, I wanted to shine a brighter light on the subliminal body shaming present in today’s society, which can send the wrong message not only to larger-framed and heavier-weighted people, but also to regular functioning people of society. For even though they look perfectly fine and normal, upon viewing this ad, they might feel the sudden, incessant need to lose weight. As a matter of fact, this can even serve to facilitate the development or continuation of people’s eating disorders and ongoing body dysmorphia, just because they are unable to appreciate nor believe the simple fact that they are beautiful and perfect just the way they are. Moreover, this ad completely disregards the possibility that some people could have genetic predispositions that prevents them from losing weight, no matter how much they might try to restrict their caloric intake or excessively workout in order to burn extra pounds that they never needed to lose in the first place.
As a direct result of presenting the need for one to enter through the door on the left, the advert is implying that one would need to fit into a particular societal mold in order to become more accepted by the general population. To be more specific, it is insinuating that plumper, rounder frames are unacceptable by today’s standards, and that they would need to lose weight and bear lighter and slimmer proportions in order to be seen as attractive and actually embraced by modern society. For this reason, the ad is conveying a largely erroneous message to people by implying that something is wrong with them if they do not look a certain way, as everyone should be wholeheartedly accepted and respected regardless of the way they look. Although, this ad could have just been promoting the fact that being extremely overweight and obese is also unhealthy and terribly depressing, which is why WeightWatchers is here to help them improve their health and help them become happier with themselves. However, this message cannot be easily discerned from the ad upon first glance. If anything, it is almost seen as a secondary, supplementary missive that can get lost within the ad’s initial, intended impact of urging people to lose a few pounds in order to become acknowledged and welcomed in modern society.
References
D., L. (2019). 33 Powerful And Creative Print Ads That’ll Make You Look Twice. Retrieved from https://www.boredpanda.com/creative-print-ads/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic