Friday, January 4, 2013

Dear Nutrisystem...

I don't know if you realize you're doing it, but you're preying on the bigger person's insecurities. You are targeting married couples, implying that marriages and other relationships may not work in your favor if you are fat. You are targeting what you presume to be a woman's need to please her boyfriend or husband by being thin.

I would like to point out to you that maybe you should be targeting health issues that may (or may not!) be associated with being overweight (slightly or otherwise).
What you are currently doing is triggering low self-esteem issues in people who are not comfortable with their bodies. What you are doing is telling the confident fat person that they shouldn't be confident; that they should not look like that, and that they would be so much happier if they were comfortable in a skinny body rather than a fat one.

What you are doing, Nutrisystem, is hyping your weight loss program for the wrong reasons in the wrong way. I am ashamed of you.

I never pay much attention to weight loss programs, really, so I don't know... Have you always done this? Is this just a new angle? 
I looked over other weight loss programs, and they don't talk much about the physical appeal or the need to please their partner. They talk about feeling good inside. They may acknowledge the guilt behind constant eating and implant it subtly into a viewer's mind, and they may feature a lot of attractive women in bikinis and shirtless men, but they do not directly go out and say things that imply that you can't make your partner happy by being fat.

Firstly, I would like to say that not everything is about making your partner happy. Oh, your girlfriend doesn't like that you're fat? Dump her. She's not worth it. Oh, you gained weight and now your husband doesn't enjoy sex with you anymore? Divorce him; he's a pig. Oh, you feel like if you become thin, they'll finally like you? If they can't accept a fat person as a person, they're not worth it.
Secondly, there's this revolutionary idea that people can be confident in themselves despite being fat. People do not have to and should not feel like they need to lose weight to be attractive and feel good about themselves. 

Your commercials are offensive to everyone who sees them.
You failed this round. Try again, and have some brains next time.

Sincerely, a confident fat girl who won't accept your crap.