Protein World "beach body" adverts

Exactly anti wrinkle cream isn't going to make a 70 year old look like the normally forty year old women advertising it. We don't go on about how it's unobtainable for a big percentage of women do we

Ha! My god I didnt realise this was a feminism thread, it just appeared in the most commented box today!

Well i'll leave it alone then - I just can't get angry about it, and i'm a woman with a womanly body. More important stuff to worry about!

Some of us care because we see how much some girls can be influenced by stereotypes and how much their self-worth depends on conforming to this sort of image.

No I dont care, but is this not a discussion forum about that image

Go on a beach in Spain or Italy in the summer you will see loads of woman with bodies like that.

Aaaand perhaps that's partly because so many women have got the message that if you don't look like that, you're not fit for the beach, so they're self-selecting. How many women avoid uncovering their bodies and avoid places where they might do so, because they feel self-conscious about having a perfectly normal amount of body fat (or indeed any amount).

I love swimming in the sea, it made me sad when we went on holiday with a friend and she wouldn't come in for a splash – though she was sweltering and likes swimming – because she was slightly overweight. So was I but fuck it.

Yes it is helping some feel ashamed of themselves, which they should not. A lot of these images are photoshopped, and altered, and are totally unrealistic, the danger with them, is that young girls want to look like that, it can contribute to a negative body image of themselves.

sugarhoops no I am not, because I am happy within myself, and I have done the best I can, I have slimmed from a size 18 14, stone, to a size 10/12 9.5 stone, so I am incredibly happy, and on holiday I will be wearing a bikini with pride . What I am angry about, is that the advert is basically saying that unless you look like that, which for a lot of women is unrealistic, you are not beach body ready, bullshit!!!!

Because it's a feminist issue, sugarhoops, and this is feminism chat. Look, it says so at the top of the page.

I agree with ''sugarhoops'' why would you care.

Far more things to worry about in the world if you need to have something to worry about.

No that's how you are interpreting it.

Sorry but I think people must be jealous, why else would you really care?!

Ah, sugarhoops, I knew the tried and trusted "you're just jealous" argument would come along in due course Always so illuminating.

Of course that's what it's saying. The message couldn't be clearer. "This is what 'beach body ready' looks like. Do you look like this?"

aeroflotgirl - sorry but you just sort of sound peeved that you can't achieve that body even though you have worked out every day for the past 3 years . Lots of women achieve similarly toned figures by working out - just because you can't, doesnt mean its offensive for everyone. I personally find it inspiring.

Like I said upthread, I could be equally offended that my hair still isnt long, glossy and gorgeous like that advertised in a hair shampoo commercial, even though i've used that advertised shampoo for years. Not fair maybe, but never offensive.

Yes but amethyst one advert isn't going to include all permutations of a slim body.
I don't have large breasts nor am I 5'10 or blonde i'r in my twenties but I don't think I need to be in order to go on the beach and that isn't what the advert says at all. It isn't saying anyone needs to look exactly like the model.
Since everyone is putting their own interpretation on the advert Here is mine are you where you want to be in terms of physical appearance, if not is part of that that you want to be slimmer if so here is a product that does that.

I really don't get the fuss. I remember 10-12 years ago, going to the gym with my mates for two months before a holiday to Spain to get "beach body ready".

Her body isn't that unobtainable. Go on a beach in Spain or Italy in the summer you will see loads of woman with bodies like that.

Yes they are offensive because basically they are saying that unless you look like this photoshopped model, you are not beach body ready. The message that it is sending out to young girls is . Yes I would love to look like that, but realistically it is not possible, I have my tiger stripes and a flabby tummy, that only a tummy tuck can get rid of, despite my working out for 3 years, each day, doing 45 mins cardio kickboxing and reducing my food intake.

Because I would say only about 1% of women are:

• aged between 17 and 22
• white
• very tall
• very slightly built
• large breasted
• long bodied with small waists

As I said upthread, I'm slim and fit and work hard to stay that way. But I don't look like that, and I never will because I am not that shape.

Why is it so hard to understand?

ameythyst why do you think it's not achievable for 99% of women? She doesn't look that extraordinary to me.
There was a woman in the pool today who had a similar shape to her (she wasn't wearing a bikini though, so couldn't judge her abs).

I don't think it is body-shaming. The advert is body shaming. That is its very essence. It is what it is trying to do.

And it is an unrealistic body for a great deal women to achieve. Black women, older women, short women, women with thinner hair, disabled women etc etc.

I personally wouldn't have worded the petition like that though, I agree.

"So we shouldn't let a model show her body because most people don't look like that?" It isn't about not letting her show her body. It is about yet another advertising company buying into the same trope of what a woman should look like.

I don't think her body is particularly unrealistic for a young woman who is a normal weight and works out. Obviously not everyone is as tall as her ,or goes in at the waist as much ,but surely most of accept that we have variations in shape?
Personally I have no problem with this advert. I've been both very slim and obese, I wouldn't have thought twice about the phrase 'beach ready body' .It just means you want to look and feel your best if you're going to appear in public in a bikini. Nothing new there.

It's very possible she hadn't had breast enhancement surgery btw - perhaps she just has a very unusual figure, or has some serious chicken fillets in her bikini top. I don't know. The point is that her shape is not achievable for 99% of women.

Shewept, I made the point that very few women with such slight frames and so little body fat have large breasts without having had surgical enhancement. That's true. I also made the point that the image has been photoshopped, because all images used in advertising are. That's true too. What's your problem with it?

It's not an attack on her, it's at attack on unrealistic images being presented as the only acceptable way to look, which you can achieve if you buy some protein shakes, which is a lie.

very few sorry