Effed-up ad
I was all set to write about this so-sad-it's-silly article in the current weight loss-themed US Weekly, titled, "You did what to get ready?" (Sample: "I was on the treadmill 24/7 for a week, then a super-crash diet for the next six days." - singer Christina Milian.) But then I closed the magazine to be confronted with an ad so insidiously vile and demeaning, I had to focus on it. (Unfortunately, I can't find a link on the Web - if you can, please post!)
The advert features three women clad in skimpy, gold lame bikinis and stilettos, plus one man sporting a banana hammock. The guy and one of the chicks are front and center, in an intimate pose, with him dangling grapes above her lips. Flanking the It couple on either side are two Maxim-esque woman (large breasts; long, lean torsos with a verticle line down the middle; impossibly thin legs). They look frightened. Scared. Upset.
Hmmm...I wonder why. Is it because someone has taken a black Sharpie to their bodies, marking them up like pieces of meat? The women have had the "fat" circled on their outer thighs. Large Xs mark their lower abs. Dotted circles and arrows grace their foreheads.
W. T. F? Is this a fitness ad, a call for plastic surgery, or a football play diagram?
Not motivating, not inspiring, not likely I'll ever visit an Equinox gym
Have you seen it? It's quite slick so you may have tossed it aside without noticing the grossness.
PS The title is "Happily ever...What's your after?"
Comments
What the hell?? i was actually considering joining an equinox, but honestly, this ad makes me so sad i think ill stick to my gym (although mine sorta sucks). I dont remember if it was Bally or some other gym, but they had a real good ad with the line "No one every said 'I regret going to the gym today'". I liked that. i also flipped thorugh the tabloids this week. Why is it that they are all filled with "diet secrets" and "best celeb slim downs". Dude, i mean i just read that like britney is in the hospital agian, way more stimulating to read than about the 14 almonds Jessica Alba eats for dinner.
I saw this too! I was like, as if I'd ever go to an equinox gym! It's like they prey on all your weaknesses, hoping to sucker you in.And those little tidbits about what the stars do to get ready is really sad. Master cleanses, fasts, treadmills...What a sad way to live...
I like the ad you mentioned, Hungry waif. I also liked a Nike ad that ran a couple months ago, "Someone busier than you is working out right now." So much more motivating than imagining everything that's wrong with my body...
Man, I just can't picture this ad! It's on the back of US weekly? I'll have to see if I can find it at the gym today. It sounds grotesque. Personally, I much prefer positive ads to negative ones. I wonder what marketing research says though - maybe the negative ones stick in your mind longer?
The celeb stories I hate the most are the ones dealing with pregnancy - either staying slim (I carried triplets and only gained 6 lbs!!) or by losing the weight mega-fast (I gained 80 lbs but lost it by neglecting my precious baby so I could work out 14 hours a day). I just skip those articles entirely or else I'm tempted to chuck the mag out the nearest window.
I've been trolling the web trying to find this because I couldn't get a good mental picture of it...
Oops...missed a bit of code there. Sorry 'bout that.
here it is
'K. Since this doesn't seem to like html...here's the web address
http://creativity-online.com/work/view?seed=2977ab44
OMG Emme - thanks so much for this! You've got super e-sleuthing powers. I just read the copy explaining the ad: "...a provocative new campaign attempting to sell fitness differently. Expressing unspoken fantasies, [the photographer] delivers images placing the physically fit on a quasi-divine pedestal. Chiseled torsos and natural feminine curves are juxtaposed with marked-up women prepped for plastic surgery, attempting to send the message that natural beauty promotes corporeal delight and glamour many try to obtain artificially. Visually a cross between Eyes Wide Shut and Moulin Rouge, Equinox is certainly going a bit more glam than catering to the New Year's resolutions folks."
What bullshit.
