Protein World "beach body" adverts

[RunkyJam]

Anyone else raging about these?

I've complained to the ASA and just signed a petition taking off over at change.org

www.change.org/p/proteinworld-arjun-seth-remove-are-you-beach-body-ready-advertisements

Absolutely BONKERS this was approved IMO.

I don't think we should -I certainly would never expect to be paid the same as a man (and I work in a blue collar profession) given i've had 3 kids in the space of 6 years and taken several years mat leave and now work part time. Why on earth should I be paid the same (pro rata) as a man who hasnt had those career breaks?

You should be paid the same, because you are doing the same job. The fact that you're a mother shouldn't mean you get paid less. What about women without children, who haven't taken breaks, should they be paid less too?

The unequal pay, is often the reason why women have to take those those breaks, if they were paid the same, then dad's can share the parental leave, so that both parents can maintain careers, but it's often the woman who has to leave work, or reduce hours to fit around childcare as they earn less, because of the unequal pay.

Surley it's much fairer having everyone paid the same for the same job, with the options to split paternity leave for those who wish to? If men can have children and careers, why can't women?

I more take offence to the assertion from a previous poster that black women can't look like that, than the actual advert.

Every one should be paid the same if they have the same experience required by the role. That doesnt make me a feminist.

If a woman has taken a career break then she has to do the same amount of work/time to come back up again.

I dont find this ad offensive, i think that people are looking for something to get offended about (ducks and runs for cover)

the image doesnt say "this is the only body fit for a beach" it says, if you want to get a better shape (by losing weight), which quite frankly, she has a better shape than me, this product can help you. If we did a straw poll - how many women here are trying to lose weight, for their health AND to look better, because your clothes fit better.

Whether the product works or not, i dont know (or care)

matcheD glad someone else picked up on that. Seems to have glossed over somewhat.

Do you know what? I was wrong, I am offended by this picture. She has Kong hair. My doesn't grow past my shoulders it's unrealistic and makes me feel inferior to her.

So can models stop having long hair and can canteen only use models with a pixie cut? That would make me feel better about the fact that my genes gave me crawl hair.

It really is very simple to me. The ad tells you that if you do not have THIS body, you are NOT ready to go to the beach. It tells you that THIS body is WORTHY of being seen. THAT is why it's offensive.

For God sake I hate kindle fire autocorrect it should say mychild not matcheD

well you are mis-reading the ad (IN MY VIEW)

hahaha on the Kong hair...

maybe we should take umbridge at the adverts for contact lenses that change the colour of your eyes from brown to blue as this discriminates against brown eyes and says that brown eyes are inferior?

So it seems people are offended by the advert because they are assigning it a message that it isn't actually giving.
If one persons beautiful body makes you feel inadequate that is your own insecurities not this advert at fault.

I don't know why this image is worse than all the other millions of images out there idolising a particular body shape. Probably 50% of all advertising boils down to "You are inadequate or unacceptable as you are. Buy our product to change that".

I'm not sure the image itself is much worse than millions of others. I think it's that the message is quite unequivocal and blatantly tries to shame you if you don't look like that – whereas with your typical yoghurt-eating woman skipping through the fields, while she may have a similar body, the message is less overt.

So more people are able to see what's going on. It's like an ad from the 70s, and in general feminism and an understanding of body-shaming have moved on enough, for a sizeable number of people to take exception to it and argue against it or do their own feminist versions or whatever – to the point that it's become a national story.

I was on 3 Counties Radio debating this with Katie Hopkins this morning. For me the issue is that women are constantly bombarded with images of the one 'perfect' one body type which is attainable only for a small percentage of women with the same fat distribution as the model. No amount of protein shakes will change your basic body shape. This is a glamour model image which is all about sexiness and appearance, not health and fitness. She is fully made-up and groomed, and she is passive, not active. Men simply don't experience this amount of pressure about the way they look.

For girls and young women this ad is more likely to put them off going to the beach because they don't measure up. They could have pictured a fit woman running into the sea or having fun on the beach, this ad just suggests that the most important thing is how you look.

I think it's been a tipping point for women fed-up with images of perfection, displayed in a place where they simply can't avoid it.

Some seriously mixed message's out there just like this thread really. Some simply can't see a problem, others think this not right the OP even said it's promoting starvation.

Currently though their sales have increased and the head of their global marketing is very happy as they have basically been given increased exposure.

really? you're not going to the beach because you dont have the body shown in this ad?

come on ladies speak up, any of you that are NOT going to the beach now because of this advert...

The woman in the ad looks like she has a great diet and does plenty of excercise. I'm struggling to see the problem tbh.

For me the problem is not the woman, it's the combination of the woman used to model and the slogan.

It isn't just this ad that shames women into being self-conscious about their bodies, it's the general attitude and general pressure, of which this ad is an extreme example.

I know it has been mentioned here already, but where are the complaints about hair dye not making my hair look glossy or the complaints that we don't look like the women promoting the anti wrinkle creams when these women are also held up as example of looking desirable?

Can anyone explain that?

I hate how we are bombarded with images of women looking like they are having an orgasm when washing their hair, or side boob to advertise spray and so on. I agree that these images in general are very damaging, but this advert in the OP is no worse than any others I see every time I turn on the TV.

So what exactly is it about this advert that is causing so much fuss and not the adverts over wrinkle cream, or the lovely figured women advertising roll on? Or all the beautiful women in movies?

This advert doesn't make me feel like I am not good enough to go on the beach. I don't get that message at all and I think some are reaching to try to make it into something it isn't.

To be pissed off with how women all look in advertising? I get that, but a petition for this advert alone? doesn't make sense. I feel very strongly about the affects of advertising in the media but this does come across like people are just looking for something to get pissed off about and will read things that aren't there in order to be offended.

Unless you are petitioning against every advert out there that includes women looking in a certain way that is held up as desirable then it is hypocritical to complain about this one.

and dont forget the catalogues for clothes where every model is a size8?

and tv shows where everyone is beautiful...?

this one Ad is not the problem, modern media is the problem

but then how far back does the 'body beautiful' go?

DragonWithAGirl - am late to this thread, so apologies if this is irrelevant and has already been said.
But...
Nope, I'm not remotely tempted NOT to go to the beach because I don't look like the girl in that photo. (not that tempted to go to the beach because I hate sand sticking to me and I burn if I so much as step out of my door in the summer...)
BUT what does worry me, colossally, is my very young DD seeing this, and reading the slogan, and ALL the other drip-drip-drip stuff out there about only ONE sort of body being deemed worthy enough to be displayed (and therefore, by inference, only one sort of body being OK to actually own) and thinking, at her very young and inexperienced age, that this is somehow true (as opposed to a marketer's field day).
Yes, parents can, and should, and DO tell their daughters that this is not the only way to look, that this has been photo-shopped, that there is more to life (gasp!) than attaining this so-called perfect beach body.
Till they're blue in the face, most of the parents I know.
Doesn't change the fact that there is a relentless, extremely savvy marketing machine, designed to flog products, that will undercut all the good work done by parents and schools, and that young minds that haven't yet learned to sift through all the bullshit will be, and are being, affected by this stuff in an insidious, hard-to-quantify way.
My DD is beautiful. Just beautiful. The thought of this tidal wave of crap out there (and this is just one well-publicised example) terrifies me.
So no, it won't affect whether I go to the beach or not. But if it affects a bunch of thigh-loathing 13 year old girls, that's a serious problem.

I have also complained to the ASA. I'm a lecturer in media studies, and I understand that ads promote an idealistic lifestyle and work to make us feel inadequate/strive for perfection via consumption, and I'm generally fairly immune to it. This one's message that you need to get a specific body to go to the beach has just ticked me right off. Ironically, the media coverage the campaign's generated will mean their advertising spend appears non-existent.

People saying why doesn't anyone complain about the messages in other adverts, the glossy hair, perfect-looking mums in nappy ads, uniformly size 8 models, etc etc – they do! Feminist blogs, discussions, academic courses, books talk about it all the time and so do a lot of people day-to-day. there are people who spend their lives picking these messages apart and analysing how they work.

I think this ad has got everyone going and is being held up as an example because it's very blatant and simplistic, so easy to understand and be opposed to. Still, not everyone gets why feminists don't like it, but it's become a debating point. I think that's just how it happens in this age of Twitter, instant news etc – every so often something will become a talking point, and the bigger, bolder and easier it is to make satirical versions of, the more it will become a thing.

shewept you need to read up on how much leisure time men have and compare it to how much leisure time women have.

Your answer is too simplistic.

I am late to the thread but would just like to add that I feel some women actually seem to manage to set the clock back 30 years by buying into all this crap. It really irritates the hell out of me. If women object to something in theory they should also object to it in practice by not buying into gimmicky diets, reading rubbish, soul destroying magazines and start behaving a bit more like an unreconstructed man. I can't remember the last time my DH moaned about his body shape, thought he should go on a diet or had any doubts about himself or his ability whereas so many women do. Why is this?

i'm glad that we are talking about this -

but (theres always a but!) i fail to see how this is any worse than the multitude of other ads out there