Another reason to hate Fitness First

[quiregrrl]

A 'brainwave' from the Fitness First marketing team in the Netherlands - public shaming. As someone innocently sits to wait for a bus the billboard flashes the persons weight in red numerals for all to see.

From one of my favorite blogs

I suppose one could argue that the number displayed on its own, in the absence of any other information, statements, or implicit value judgement, is subject to any interpretation. But given the society we live in, given that the "advertisment" is for a gym company, it's hard to imagine any other intent than to shame a specific subset of the population for whatever number is displayed while they are waiting for a bus. This absolutely disgusts me.

If FF Australia follow suit with this "advertising" campaign, I will be taking a pot of paint, a photographer and my big fat arse to the bus stop. All that empty sign space needs some words added.

Comments

[quiregrrl.livejournal.com]

"And we're not going to help you look like us because you have to prove that you're worthy of belonging to our club first, ya lazy lump!" ... yeah, i don't get it either... at the very least it seems like bad business practice to alienate the section of the community that is traditionally most ambivalent about attending a gym... maybe that has something to do with it though, perhaps it just seems too much like work to actually encourage non-gym-junkies to try your gym out, rather than go for the easy targets of people who are already interested??

[http://users.livejournal.com/kitty_kitty_/]

I suppose that's exactly it - why bother with what they consider to be a hard sell (a fatty) when they could go for an easy sell (someone who is thin and without a hair out of place, even after an hour at the gym)?