GRSJ 300 Lucy Bogle

The above advertisement in its original form was first displayed in London by Protein World, a UK based protein supplement company. The advertisement prompted a worldwide backlash from men and women individually, as well as multiple feminist and advocacy groups.This advertisement uses a blatant form of body shaming in order to foster a sense of shame within women in order to perpetuate unattainable standards of beauty, and profit from fitness and diet culture.

The use of the bright colours, rhetorical questioning and the thin, blonde almost barbie like white woman in this advertisement work together simultaneously to shame women into being critical of their bodies and perpetuates fitness and diet culture. This use of the rhetorical question “Are you beach body ready?” followed immediately by the introduction of Protein World’s newest weight loss collection suggests to women that, if you do not resemble the model in the advertisement you are not beach body ready.

Furthermore, this advertisement isolates and marginalizes women of colour, women with certain religious beliefs or values, transwomen, plus size women and gender non conforming women by further distancing them from the dominant discourses of what a woman should look like. As Warner discusses in his article, this advertisement plays on “emotional rather than rational appeals” (Warner 18). Despite the fact the majority of women do not resemble the model featured in this advertisement, many women still experience a negative emotional reaction to this advertisement and its message despite their rational knowledge of the average woman’s body size.

Although this advertisement is directed at women, it sexualizes and commodifies the female body in order to appeal to men. In an interview conducted by Rose Hackman for The Guardian that asked New Yorkers of various sexes and ages what they thought of the advertisement, a 38-year-old man said that when looking at this advertisement, his mind does not go to the beach. (“Are you beach body ready? Controversial weight loss ad sparks varied reactions”). This advertisement was created not only to target women using a body shaming rhetoric, it sexualizes and commodifies the female body in order to appeal to men as well.

Sources:

Hackman, Rose. “Are you beach body ready? Controversial weight loss ad sparks varied reactions.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 27 June 2015, www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/27/beach-body-ready-america-weight-loss-ad-instagram.

Mullin, Gemma. “Marketing man behind Protein World’s controversial ‘Are You Beach Body Ready?’ Tube posters faces fresh backlash with new ad campaign urging women to ‘think small’.” The Sun, The Sun, 22 May 2017, www.thesun.co.uk/news/3621355/are-you-beach-body-ready-tube-posters-protein-world-think-small-advert/.

Warner, Jamie. “Political Culture Jamming: The Dissident Humor of “the Daily show with Jon Stewart”.” Popular Communication, vol. 5, no. 1, 2007, pp. 17.

Advertisement taken from: http://www.mediagirls.org/ad-dectectives.html