Every body is a summer body!
This image is taken from an actual advert to join a gym in 2022! To be honest I was shocked when I saw this ad, and to be honest it makes me sad that they are plastering this all over Switzerland - because even if you claim you can ignore these advertisements, the message does get through on a subconscious level.
I firstly want to say that anyone who has seen this ad or who on their own accord, are starting to feel panic about losing weight in time for summer...just know you literally don’t have to change a thing. Your body right now is your summer/winter/spring/autumn body and anyone telling you otherwise has issues of their own that they need to address or want to make some money out of you. Fatphobia is so rife and ads like this simply solidify that, as society encourages people to lose weight for summer; that a your current body isn’t ‘good enough’ for summer.
Advertising has a powerful effect on how we see ourselves and how we think we should look. They have a large influence on body image and dissatisfaction. Body image is the way we think and feel about our body, so it is not just how we feel about the way we look, but also how we feel about what our body can do. There is a lot of research on body image which can be a bit overwhelming, but to sum it up, researchers tend to look at body satisfaction (how we look/how wee see ourselves) and body appreciation (appreciating your body for all that it is regardless of what it looks like). Many areas of study suggest that if we place a higher focus on how our body looks (body satisfaction) over what our body can do (body appreciation) it can lead to a lower overall body image. This is known as Self Objectification Theory. This is why the way we look doesn’t automatically determine our body image – even supermodels can have bad body image!
This advert is fatphobic, fat shaming and is part of the problem! Adverts like this make more people feel self-conscious, and drive people to poor exercise and nutrition behaviours. There is research to show that if we get too hung up on what we see in the mirror, or how we feel about our appearance, that this can have a negative impact on our body, whereas if you have a better body image, research shows you are more likely to do things that make your body feel good. For example, if we are talking about health-related behaviours, you are more likely to enjoy movement, you are more likely to eat in a way that makes you feel good, you are more likely to have positive social interactions with your friends/colleagues/family, and just overall things like sleep, screen time etc are all likely to be improved.
Adverts like this are promoting poor body image, which in turn is associated with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, low mood and decreased self-esteem; as well as a higher likelihood of developing disordered eating behaviours and eating disorders. Even if we all ate the same, exercised the same, had the same sleep/stress/daily movement…our bodies would all look different because we are all different!
Telling you to ignore this ad if you see it, or not let it impact or trigger you is much easier said than done. But as a society we need to move away from the (wrong) idea that smaller is always better. That we need to diet for summer. That we can’t be satisfied with our bodies as they are.
Here’s a starting point for an alternative: eat a balanced diet with primarily nutrient dense foods, drink your water, exercise 3 times a week, try and move throughout the day and prioritise sleep. I promise that if you focus on these actions, your health will be far better than if you were to spend 6 days a week exercising for 60+ minutes, and consuming a diet composed of calories that are sub optimal for health.
~ Laura
