It’s definitely become a thing within the past decade, especially with products/ads directed more towards women. Remember that obese is not “Jabba the Hutt” levels of fat, and someone who looks like this is far past obese at 5’4" (1.61m) and 200lbs (90kg). Then, you have companies like Dove ( with ads like their “Body Positive Trailer” showing characters that are well past Class III obesity. That’s an extreme example, but it’s become quite common overall to show severely overweight people as “normal”
Companies have realized that people are getting fatter and fatter globally, so like any good capitalists they’re going to take advantage of it. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Dove is owned by Unilever, who is also the world’s largest producer of ice cream, and suddenly their push for “body positivity” makes a bit more sense.
Now, before people go and attack me, I think that there have been many positive changes in how people are being more realistically portrayed in media and appreciate the push for more realistic body standards. Shaming people for looking “different” is not okay, and that includes being overweight.
However, what’s not okay in my mind is how quickly it’s become “being severely overweight is totally okay if you #slay queen, yaaaas”. I’ve noticed a growing trend of these types of ads, generally portraying black/PoC women (who are already statistically far more likely to become obese) who are hundreds of pounds overweight as doing all kinds of “fitness” and/or “boss babe” kinds of activities, which seems like they are trying to convince the broader audience that it’s totally okay to be 200-300lbs overweight because this obese black girl was shown wearing athletic wear.
JCreazy@midwest.social 6 months ago
It’s quite common because companies want to market to people by seeming relatable and wouldn’t you know it, for a lot of people being overweight is relatable so you see it a lot more in advertising now.