Are These Fat Of The Land Ads Offensive Or Motivational?
Posted by: Annika Harris
Filed in:
news
6:00AM, Wednesday June 24th 2009
You may have to look very closely to figure out what’s happening in this ad. Still clueless? Well, the biker is trudging up the hairy belly of an obese man, warning us that if we don’t “stay in shape,” we’ll end up a sedentary slob. That’s my take on the ad, anyway, not that I agree. I think a more successful ad would have been to show overweight people that they can still do activities like riding a bike, not shame them. Or maybe SPW Bike’s goal was just to get attention in a clever way. What do you think? See the female version of the ad after the jump. [Copyranter]
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Riley
wrote on June 24 2009 @ 06:48 am: [report]
Maybe it is just me, but I think those ads are geared towards those already into fitness, but might have slacked a little. A scare/shock to remind them of the bike brand whenever they are looking at other ways of staying fit, or getting back into the swing of things.
An ad conveying the message that the bike company thinks you are disgusting if you are overweight isn’t going to motivate, just push further away.
avalari
wrote on June 24 2009 @ 08:40 am: [report]
This country is in the middle of an obesity epidemic. Honestly, we need more ads like this. Let’s put it in the face of America that it’s not that being fat is disgusting or whatever you’ve interpreted from this, it’s just unhealthy (and costing us an insane amount of money)and getting out and doing things other than watching your TV and twittering might help with that.
joyy
wrote on June 24 2009 @ 08:49 am: [report]
I agree with Riley - these ads are probably only going to show up in bike or outdoor-related magazines, which are not widely read by the majority of most populations.
To me, they’re selling the benefit of their bike - it helps you stay in shape and overcome the challenge of doing so (assuming you actually ride the bike regularly after you buy it), for which riding up a steep hill on a belly-mountain is a metaphor.
Advertising the image of a very visibly overweight/obese person riding their bikes to already avid bikers/outdoors-minded-people probably wouldn’t have been a “more successful ad” given a) what I assume is their audience and b) the goal of the ad - to sell bikes.