In a new advertisement by Unicharm for their menstrual products brand, SOFY BeFresh, the Australian company created an offensive fat shaming spot, which is one of the dumbest of the year.
In the spot, when a woman gets her period, she becomes much larger physically than she was before. This bigger version of the woman has a poor attitude, is constantly complaining and crying about things such as food, men and disliking everything on her social media feeds.
Once her period is gone, she becomes skinny and happy again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGfIXv9Tl0
The spot is offensive for multiple reasons. Using a heavier actress to display a crankier, unhappier person is fat shaming. Why couldn’t they have used the same actress for both people? By using two totally different sized woman, they’re implying that being a certain weight means you’re a happier or unhappier version of yourself.
The other problem the commercial has is that it implies that woman are emotional messes who can’t do anything except cry and order pizza when they’re on their periods. It’s a terrible message to send to consumers.
Some have taken to Twitter and other social media platforms to share their disgust for the awful ad.
Why not use the same girl instead of one clearly larger? #hidden agenda #sofybefresh
— Mystic Jen ☀️🌱🕊🪺🐇🐥🐛🌸 (@PlantaPress) August 22, 2015
https://twitter.com/andymullens/status/634243514189017088
I will never buy #sofybefresh and I encourage you all to do the same. Why support a company which uses fat shaming to market it's product?
— Hayley Hughes (@fashionhayley) August 19, 2015
Periods aren’t something people should be ashamed about and this ad makes it seem like it should be – which is completely the wrong message to send. Fat shaming is the just icing on the stupid cake. The company clearly recognized this as the YouTube video has comments and the like/disliked bar disabled. This ad, like the title suggests, is an “ugh moment.”
