Let's not ignore the fact that the dog (a bulldog) is a rotund fellow himself. Because chubby ladies can only hang out with chubby dogs--and even they'll leave when someone better comes along.

Not surprisingly, I first found this video on CollegeHumor.

First let me say that I did not watch the commercial because I did not want to become upset as I think I might become while I'm at work.

Secondly, it's too bad this commercial isn't a kind of parody of the weight-loss industry or just ads in general. So much of our advertising plays on people's fears that if they don't do this or that they will wind up a failure/unloved, but rarely does an ad come right out and say, "Buy our product or end up a failure and unloved" the way this ad apparently does.

It's really interesting how the worst threat this guy can think of is, "you won't be able to find a husband." A fate worse than death!

I would love to see someone make a response ad, where the "fat" woman flicks this guy off and says, "Guess what, I don't even want a husband. I'm happy the way I am. And I'm not going to buy more stuff just because you think I should be unhappy with myself." ...But snappier than that...haha.

Wait, so there's a real life version of White Goodman from Dodgeball?

My mind can't get around this. It's a gym for people that are already skinny? But you don't have to be healthy right? You can be anorexic or bulemic? What an ass. I don't even want to think about the type of people that belong to this gym knowing this is his gimmick and philosophy.

How in the world would you call this the "anti-gym"? If anything it's the proto-gym. I can't imagine anything that would make me want to work out less. A key reason that I joined my gym was that most of the people I saw there were middle aged women and that I didn't have to be embarassed about the very small amount of weight I would adjust the machine too. I just don't understand how this business plan would work?

Wouldn't your living room couch qualify as an "anti-gym" more than this gym-on-steroids?

I wish I believed in hell 'cause I'd feel a lot better knowing this man was gonna get what he deserves.

ugh, what an awful gimmick. i'm not going to watch the commercial. i'm just going to pretend this doesn't exist, because this guy just wants controversy.

I saw one of their ads on TV a couple of nights ago - midway through the evening news. It almost made me cry and did make me turn the TV off. Are they trying to give people flashbacks to mistreatment in school? These are offensive on so many levels - and they employ the bullying tactics that scream hate into the very soul of any person ever teasted, even if they were teased for other things than weight.

how are things like this even legal? this whole getting away with descriminating against over-weight people or plus size people is just pissing me off. You can't descriminate against a person for anything else openly, but weight.

I'm a chubby woman (fat, even) who is about to marry somebody who thinks I'm gorgeous... and I always have sex with the lights on.

But seriously, the frog queen is right. If this were any other minority group there is no way this commercial would get air time. But when it's fat people being targetted, that is just fine.

How degrading.

This reminds me of why I was so afraid to join another gym. I went to one when I started school. I didn't stay with it because I was tired of being stared at and being the butt of jokes (Ooh, look at the fattie work out! teehee!). I was a fat woman who (gasp!) WANTED to exercise/lose size/get fit, but I couldn't take being the fattest, most unkempt person in what was obviously a singles bar/meat market atmosphere. (Seriously. The women all wore MAKEUP to work out! I thought that was insane.)

After many reassurances from my housemate, I did join a gym recently. Thankfully, my neighborhood Y caters to all ages, sizes, and family types. All the staff that I've spoken to have been helpful, friendly, and encouraging.

As far as Mr. Karolchyk's establishment goes, I figure that if grown men and women want to go around acting like the in-crowd in Junior High, they will get the level of discourse they deserve.

As someone who was chubby for a good chunk of my life ... ugh. On so many levels.

Watching Oprah while eating cupcakes in the dark? Is that the best stereotype they can come up with?

If you can stomach enough of the Web site to look through it, you'll find that they're actively supporting legislation to make childhood obesity a form of child abuse. Sure, parents need to help their kids stay healthy, but seriously? Is that supposed to be some kind of eugenics program to discourage people who are genetically prone to being overweight from reproducing (or at least living in that state)?

The one positive thing I saw on that heinous Web site is that they offer wake-up calls. I seriously wish my gym did that.

And on that note, off to the (non-anti) gym I go!

With you 100%, under_zenith. I am an overweight girl who has never turned out the lights for sex and is completely in touch with and confident about my sexuality. I doubt that that anorexic women have truly good sex, as they are probably obsessing too much about their bodies. Then again, isn't that what men like this anti-gym guy want: passive women with whom sex is rape-like?

The best sex I ever had was after a plate of delicious pasta for energy. 'Nuff said.

I live in Denver and this "anti-gym" advertises on a radio station that I used to listen to and the radio adverts are just as bad as the television ones -- one talks about how your ass should break your husband's hand if he slaps it, one features two women talking about how one can't have sex with the lights on because she's so ashamed of her body -- and the station's official policy line is that they can't control the content of their advertisers. They've officially lost at least one very loyal listener and my suspicion is that they've lost more than that, because they had the owner of this gym on the morning show defending himself, abysmally, I might add. It really is sick.

I live in Denver and this "anti-gym" advertises on a radio station that I used to listen to and the radio adverts are just as bad as the television ones -- one talks about how your ass should break your husband's hand if he slaps it, one features two women talking about how one can't have sex with the lights on because she's so ashamed of her body -- and the station's official policy line is that they can't control the content of their advertisers. They've officially lost at least one very loyal listener and my suspicion is that they've lost more than that, because they had the owner of this gym on the morning show defending himself, abysmally, I might add. It really is sick.

Wow...

I'm in Canada, and I have yet to see this. I doubt with the government's agressive anti-bullying campaign featuring endless commercials about adult bullying in the workplace that this would be allowed.
It's fine to let people who are dumb enough to fund this gym me assaulted and degraded, but promoting physical and emotional violence to the general public is going beyond what's necessary.

And good call on the White Goodman, Jeff. It's exactly what it is. I can only assume that Mr. Karolchyk's agressive and violent hatred for fat only stems from his own hate for himself and his fear of not being loved.

And I know for a fact if someone chucked a cupcake at me while I was on the treadmill I would totally eat it.

The commercial is obviously disgusting, but I'm sorry, being fat does NOT make you a minority or victim of discrimination. I'm not saying people don't discriminate against overweight people, but they also discriminate against blondes, bald guys, etc. - calling yourself a minority because you're fat is taking it too far. Unlike your racial status or sexual orientation, you actually CAN control your weight to a very large extent. Yes, genetics plays a part, but most people who are overweight eat too much or exercise too little...it's just a fact. Comparing being fat to being a racial minority demeans the meaning of what it is to be a minority.

How do I know I'm gonna get flamed for saying that?

I'm not really a pro-weight person (I accept that past a certain level health is affected, and I really think anyone past that point should focus on their health for their own good) but this is horrible, and networks shouldn't be accepting it. I don't care how much they paid. Who has let this air? Who can we complain to?

And EyeHeartNY, I'm afraid I'd support that legislation as long as they made provisions for children with medical disorders and were focusing on parents who overfed their children to the point of diabetes or making them bedridden. I've often thought that continuing to feed someone unhealthy food when they were bedridden from obesity and aren't even able to feed themselves should be considered a crime, a bit like bringing razors to a known cutter just because they asked for them, or inducing vomiting in a bulimic. But any such legislation would have to only apply where there is an obvious, overwhelming issue.

Basiorana, show me one incidence of a child being bedridden from obesity, and unable to feed themselves, and their parents continue to stuff them full of junk food. Just one.

Raginfem, if it was possible to change your race or sexual orientation, would that make discriminating against racial minorities and homosexuals suddenly okay? I hate that line of argument, because it totally comes across as: "Well obviously everyone would choose to be a straight white male if they could, but since they can't, it's wrong to insult them."

"Is that supposed to be some kind of eugenics program to discourage people who are genetically prone to being overweight from reproducing (or at least living in that state)?"

I'm sorry, but that's an absolutely ridiculous thing to say. In the '70s there were not nearly as many obese children and guess what - those people probably had similar genes to what people today have, even in the same families. Most kids I know who are obese stuff their faces all day with absolute crap and don't exercise. When obesity "runs" in families they've found that shared eating habits contribute just as much if not more to the weight than genetics. I'm guessing if you fed these kids who are "genetically prone to being overweight" healthy food for several weeks and had them play outside for a few hours every day, their excess weight would somehow magically disappear...

Think practically about that legislation, Basiorana. Do you honestly think it would be helpful to children? How many children do you know who are "bedridden from obesity"? You're conflating two different populations: chubby kids and people who make the Guinness Book of World Records. Here's what would happen: chubby kids would be taken from their parents and put into the foster care system. Does that really sound like a good idea to you? Something that's in the kids' best interests? It's really better to be forcibly seized from a loving home, the only one you've ever known, and put into the limbo hell of the foster care system where so many kids are deprived of basic love and support, than it is to live with loving parents who don't mind if you eat a lot of mashed potatoes, corn chips, and watch TV?

You're also assuming that controlling a child's weight is well within the power of his or her parents. How? Kids who go to school pretty much do what they want food-wise, when they're out of the house. I'm pretty sure that if my mom had known that I was drinking a coke every day with lunch when I was in 5th grade, she would have flipped...but...she didn't, and I'm naturally skinny. If you flipped this legislation, I would have been taken away from my parents because it was impossible for me to put on weight. It's still very difficult. So why should a kid who's naturally chubby be persecuted like that?

All that is leaving aside the poverty issues, which have been discussed at length before--the relative expense of fresh fruit and vegetables compared to processed goods, the difficulty of making ends meet with food stamps, etc.

Karolchyk will be another Asshole of the Week tomorrow.

Nice ads. I propose this one for them:

"The Anti-Gym: Emotional and physical abuse is teh HAWT!"

Asshats.

Uh-huh. And how do you "make" kids play outside when they live in a city? Or if they live by a highway and there's no safe area? Or if they live in a gang-ridden neighborhood and it's simply not safe for them to be on the streets?

Or, as in my case, they'd just rather read a book?

Hey, I thought of another one:

"The Anti-Gym: You too can be that asshole who picked on you all through high school!"

Gee, maybe I should ask for a job in their marketing department?

raginfem, you are using ridiculous stereotypes. I'm a Brownie leader, and I can tell you, the girls who eat the most are actually the really skinny ones - they're the ones who have fast metabolisms so they need lots of food. Our chubby and fat girls don't eat anymore or any worse than the rest (our fattest girl forwent the chips for salad at our last camp, telling me with a big grin: "I love salad!"), nor are they less enthusiastic about jumping up and playing tag and jump rope. Some children are just chubby... it's called "baby fat", and it often disappears after a growth spurt.

Ooh, good point, under_zenith. Allow me to clarify...I guess for me, being a woman or being a different race or being gay are not bad things. But being overweight...well, I don't judge overweight people, and I have many overweight friends, but it's not healthy and most of the time I worry about them because they don't exercise, don't eat well, etc. - and that's just not good for overall quality of life. It's the same with "skinny fat" people - you know, thin people who also don't exercise and therefore aren't actually healthier. Thanks for pointing that out though, my intention wasn't to say that inability to change yourself isn't the ONLY reason we should be against discrimination.

EG, why are you so ardently defending unhealthy living? Kids SHOULD be moving around and using their bodies - as humans we're not supposed to sit in a sedentary state all day. This stuff really worries me because I feel like with all of the video games and computer games and other things kids can do now, many of them don't bother to go outside. This happens even in areas where kids CAN go outside. And if they do live in a city, I think it's a parent's responsibility to get them active - bring them to the pool, get them involved in intermural sports, take them to the zoo and walk around all day - make it fun. And yes, I understand some people can't afford to do that, but that still doesn't mean we should be defending what is essentially unhealthy for children - perhaps we should find ways to help kids like that get out too.

And under_zenith, I am not using ridiculous stereotypes. Any nutritionist will tell you that weight gain happens when metabolic input exceeds output...if you eat more calories than you're burning, you'll gain weight. Some people have lower metabolisms so they do in fact have to either exercise more or eat less, so it is harder for them. But do you honestly think you know everything about those girls' eating habits because you're in GIRL SCOUTS with them? I have friends who eat salad for lunch every day but are overweight because they get hungry later and then eat nothing but junk. You don't see everything those girls eat and simple nutritional science proves you wrong, so I think I'll stick with my "ridiculous stereotype."

How successful is this gym? I can't imagine that feeling ashamed of yourself even more than you probably already do is going to help anything.

I also thought of Dodgeball and found it very sad that someone decided to put it into practice. There's a difference between "tough love" and sadism.

Two points re: the Legislation:
I have worked in children's community mental health for over eight years, and by law we are required to report any form of abuse within 24 hours. In my eight years, I have probably called CPS (Children's Protective Services) ten or so times. Some were for small things, and I called more for liability reasons than anything else, but some were for MAJOR abuse cases. In every single case, not one report was followed up by a CPS worker. We currently have a child (twelve years old) who sleeps naked with his mother at night while she has sex with men for money right next to him, and this has been report to CPS numerous times, confirmed by many sources. CPS has replied that this is the mental health agency pushing our "morals and values" on the family and they are not going to investigate. The blame is not only on the CPS workers either, one case manager I know has over 400 cases assigned to her to investigate - there is no way she can throughly investigate them all. My point? Do you really think that CPS is going to be able to investigate every single report of an overweight child in the home? They are so overloaded as it is! And it takes time and money away from the children who are being severely beaten, sodomized, starved, and neglected. All CPS would do would refer the parents to nutritional programs, all of which were available before CPS entered the picture. We have such a lack of foster homes in Idaho that even those that are being severely abused are kept in the home. It's horrible.
My second point is the irony about this douche claiming on one hand that anti-discrimination laws for overweight people is simply "Big Government" (his words) stepping in again where they are not wanted or needed, but when it suits his needs, big government is fine. It reminds me of Terry Nichols, the OKC federal building bomber, whining because he didn't like the public defender he was assigned, yet he admitted to blowing up the building because he was "getting back at the government." Cry me a river.

under_zenith: The comments about bedridden people were referring mostly to adults who have to live with their parents or a spouse because they can't get out of bed. They're rare, sure, but they shouldn't exist at all, and they should be considered a form of abuse. I'm sorry, upon rereading I didn't make that distinction clear.

EG: I wouldn't want it to go so far as to take kids away. Perhaps a mandatory class in ways to cook healthy food inexpensively (it CAN be done, it's just not something we know automatically) and calorie-counting and a few checkups from CPS now and then to make sure the parents are making an effort (and maybe a fine if they refused to comply). And you would have to make the legislation very precise so that the only way a kid could wind up under CPS's gaze was if they were diagnosed with serious health problems relating to their weight (diabetes, a obesity-related heart condition, etc), and after a certain amount of time their doctor and CPS confirmed that the parents weren't making any effort at all. Again, I am talking the very far ends of the spectrum, not the kids who are a little heavy. And schools should be offering healthier food anyway, maybe parents would push for them more if they were worried about getting written up.

Perhaps it is impractical. I would never support anything like that without reading what the bill said VERY carefully. I still think it's a good idea in theory, but in practice it might cause more problems than it solves.

raginfem: "Most kids I know who are obese stuff their faces all day with absolute crap and don't exercise." is a stereotype. You've admitted that you know people who eat unhealthily and don't excercise and yet are still thin, why is it so difficult to believe that the opposite can be true as well? That people can eat healthy and excercise but still be overweight?

And we're getting a little off topic here, so I'm just going to say: It is not acceptable to show anybody being assualted and humiliated in order to advertise a product. And if the person in question wasn't fat, I doubt it would fly. But there is a perception in our culture that it is okay and even a good thing to humiliate fat people, so companies can get away with stuff like that. And that's bullshit.

keric125: Wow. I had no idea CPS was that bad. I mean, I knew that it was flawed, but it sounds horrible there-- I wonder how bad it is in my state, I will have to research that. I hereby withdraw any comments I might have made about supporting such legislation-- clearly it is not anywhere near as important as reforming and funding CPS for the ones who very severely need it.

"It's the same with "skinny fat" people - you know, thin people who also don't exercise and therefore aren't actually healthier."

Hey, wait, raginfem - What about us fat people who eat healthy, exercise, and are by every medical standard "healthy" - but are just fat? We are not that exceptional. We are not that rare. And you cannot tell from the outside who eats crap and who doesn't, nor is it anyone's business but their own.

It is silly to say that all you have to do to get thin is to eat right or exercise well. This is not a bloody thermodynamics problem. Energy in = energy used plus stored, but the energy used is not a linear equation where you just have to move more to burn more. The body regulates itself to a very particular size within reasonable inputs. It is just as difficult to make a naturally fat person thin and keep them that way as it is to make a naturally thin person fat - that is, it is almost impossible. Study after study are showing this. Check out the blog Junkfood Science.

To say fat=lazy /is/ a ridiculous stereotype and is exactly what these people are trying to tell you - that it is so acceptable to hate on the fatties in this culture that it doesn't even get a second thought. No, overweight people are not minorities, but there are two things to remember here: first, it's not okay to discriminate and hate on people for something they can't change. Second, it's really not okay to do the same for people who can, anyway. It is none of anyone else's business. If shame and humiliation were enough to make fat people thin, there wouldn't be any fat people in this country.

EG, why are you so ardently defending unhealthy living? Kids SHOULD be moving around and using their bodies - as humans we're not supposed to sit in a sedentary state all day. This stuff really worries me because I feel like with all of the video games and computer games and other things kids can do now, many of them don't bother to go outside. This happens even in areas where kids CAN go outside. And if they do live in a city, I think it's a parent's responsibility to get them active - bring them to the pool, get them involved in intermural sports, take them to the zoo and walk around all day - make it fun.

Because I find there to be a noxious level of judgmentalism levelled at people whose preferred ways of life are not considered "healthy" in popular wisdom. Why is it so offensive to some people that others might not consider a one-size-fits-all paradigm of human health worth overriding all their basic urges and desires? I was a very sedentary child. Putting me in any kind of sports would have been punishment--and furthermore, I just wouldn't have done it. You can't actually force a kid who's sedentary to put the book down and run around a field if she doesn't want to. Some people do not like exercise. I didn't walk until I was almost 2. I hated gym class. I wouldn't exercise now if you paid me. Why is it so difficult to accept that people can be fundamentally different, and that what seems like a good thing to you is not at all appealing to me?

Further, what parents do you know who can afford to take a kid to the pool or the zoo every day? Most parents I know work full-time. Their kids go to school. The parents come home, see to meals, household stuff, etc. and the kids have homework. The kids might even want to do an extracurricular activity that isn't athletic, like playing music or writing. Why must all parents make your priorities their priorities? Why does your idea of health outweigh their knowledge of what's feasible for their family and best for their child?

I'm going to do my best to not get upset over this discussion.

It is true that often overweight people could eat better or exercise more. I don't think that's the point of this story, and I think that bringing it up in a thread about this story reinforces for overweight people the idea that their weight is, in fact, a valid reason for verbal and physical attacks. And that they shouldn't whine too much because, after all, they could control themselves if they just tried a little harder.

There is a place for people to focus on healthy eating and exercise, but why does that have to be here, in the shadow of that asshole shouting 'moo!' at that poor, underpaid actress?

I would hope that this would be a place where we could all agree that nobody deserves to be humiliated or abused just because of the way they look. That's the only point that should be derived from this particular story, and having it be a springboard for fat-blaming is upsetting.

raginfem,
I think EG isn't "defending healthy living," but rather pointing out that are ideas of what people could do to be more healthy often involve assumptions that our characterized by our privilege (like that everyone has a neighbor that kids could go out and play in or that people aren't working two jobs and have time to take their children to the pool [the free pool?]).

I also think that this is a really tense issue because although now many people take issue with obesity from the angle that it is unhealthy to be obese. For years (and clearly as this commercial demonstrates, still today), being over-weight has been linked with moral failings (like that person is slovenly, lazy, and stupid and that is why they are fat). Our discussion about weight-loss for health reasons cannot be divorced from the impact of history (namely years of fat-shaming for non-health related reasons).

The fact is, as this commercial demonstrates, issues of body weight are still deeply tide up with people's personal issues of self-worth. To pretend it's all about health is disingenuous.

I have an overweight sister. And, if he treated my sister like this, I'd probably kill him with my bare hands. I'm not exagerating.

Granted, her diet and lifestyle is not something I subscribe to and it surely frustrates the hell out of me. But, that does not give anyone license to hurt someone else.

Sorry, I honestly hate this man.

My comment is full of many embarrassing typos, but I hope what I mean is clear. Sorry!

Furthermore, I must object to the term "skinny fat people." If what you mean is "unhealthy skinny people," why not say that? "Fat" does not actually mean the same thing as "unhealthy."

Well, at least we'll know who to put up against the wall first when the revolution comes: this douchebag and all the dipshits who paid money to be insulted by him.