Over the past few weeks, I believed we had made a lot of progress in terms of encouraging self-confidence and positive body image. Take Meghan Trainor’s new single “All About That Bass,” which proclaims, “I know you think you’re fat, but I’m here to tell you that, every inch of you is perfect from the bottom to the top.” I can’t remember the last time a song like that ever gained so much ground while tackling a real issue like body image.
So you could say I was feeling pretty hopeful in believing we as a society were moving in the right direction.
That is, until I walked into Sephora.
Smack in the center of the store was a stand labeled “Tan & Tone,” filled with tanning lotions and whatnot. I walked right by, since I’ve accepted that I will be forever white and since I’m too cheap to invest in an artificial “glow.” But then I did a double take, as the names of products from a particular line by a company called Bliss caught my eye: “fatgirl sixpack” and “fatgirlslim armcandy.”
How the branding “fatgirl” ever got chosen for a line of cosmetic products in the first place is beyond me. What kind of company would have the audacity to target an audience of “fat girls?” Not only does that marketing strategy operate under the assumption that anyone who wants to slim down must be “fat,” but it also implies that any girl who does not have a six pack or “beautiful, flaunt-worthy” arms (which by the way, are subjective terms that lack any concrete definition) is also “fat.”
Normally I’d try to extend them the benefit of the doubt, but this is simply outrageous.
It’s infuriating that Bliss is attempting to entice its audience to identify with the “fat girl” stereotype by tricking its consumers into believing that one needs a six pack to be perceived as “slim.”
On their website, Bliss has also extended this enticing offer: for only $145 you could order the “fatgirlslim lean machine” which delivers “effective vacuum-assisted massage action and helps visibly reduce the appearance of cellulite.”
Granted, the company managed to include the ever-so-helpful disclaimer at the bottom, clarifying “bliss fatgirlslim lean machine is not a weight or fat loss product,” which they post at the bottom of each of their fatgirlslim and fatgirl products.
But for those who are insecure enough about their bodies, desperate enough to go to any means necessary to achieve the “perfect body,” and lacking in positive role models like Meghan Trainor, that disclaimer doesn’t mean anything. At face value, the product clearly offers the promise of a quick slim down and the chance to be bikini body ready within a few applications. So those who were persuaded by these marketing techniques would only see past this false advertisement several hundreds of dollars later.
Maybe these products do allow for smoother, firmer skin, but Bliss is trying to target girls with body image issues, who already believe or are vulnerable to believing that they are fat. We live in the 21st century, so we should know better than to resort to ugly language to promote beautification. It’s tacky, primitive and insulting.
So to the CEO of Bliss, whoever you are, do yourself a favor: admit your mistake, and for heaven’s sake, change the name of your product.
Daria Etezadi is a rising sophomore in the School of Foreign Service. Made From Scratch appears every other Monday at thehoya.com.