i have to say, i'm a little confused about these recent posts concerning facebook.. i think i agree more with the piece of flair post, but this one about offensive advertising borders on advocating censorship in a whole different way. in asserting that facebook should take down ads that are subjectively offensive, what's to say that gay-friendly ads won't be pulled down from emails by homophobic people deeming those offensicve? yes, awareness needs to be raised that the crisis centers are fakes. but egg donation? weight loss? these are very subjectively "offensive" and i'm really worried about the direction that feministing is taking here... pointing out the bad things about advertisements is one thing. advocating for censorship is another.

I have seen these ads, as well as ads to sign petitions for Pro-choice issues sponsored by NARAL. If Facebook were to remove the "crisis center" ads, they'd probably have to remove the NARAL ones as well. agreed with kate that no matter how much we disagree, this basically becomes censorship at some point

Kate, Vanessa didn't wrote anything about banning weight loss or egg donation ads - only the CPCs. (Which are, of course, deceptive.)

jessica,

thanks, you're absoultely right, but i think i was trying to respond to the overall tone of the post. about emailing in about offensive ads. i just worry that this same argument can be used by the conservative side who don't want to see ads with gay people, people of color, spanish-language ads, etc. and again, let me reiterate that i think it's really producitive and good to point out these ads and discuss them, but i guess i just don't see much of a case for taking them down. i didn't mean to imply that vanessa was waving some sort of censorship flag, but merely that i can see it going in that direction. sorry that i wasn't more clear..

It's interesting that feministing is blogging about this and that kate has expressed her concern, because some friends and I have experienced a similar protest/backlash in a small group we started:
YOU'RE Distusting, Facebook! which points out that women shouldn't be targeted for weight loss by making them feel bad about their bodies. Recently we had someone join the group just to say: "yeah, i definitely support every woman's right to be a fat slob who can't even wear the right gd size pants.
way to tackle the important issues, hags"

Soooo fun!

So the term "CPC" has a completely different meaning from me. My first thought upon reading the title of this post was,

"What possibly could the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) advertising on Facebook *now* that would offend the women of Feministing?"

That would mean that they've figured out there is an internet that can pe used for much more than just posting heavily edited soundbites to YouTube.

A few weeks ago one of my friends started a similar though somewhat larger facebook group protesting the ads called "Take Down the Love Handles." Join it here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=13502166297

Personally I think it's perfectly fine to complain about sexist advertisement in facebook, women's magazines, on television and anywhere else you see it. Facebook may not be obligated to do anything about it and ultimately facebook users will have to decide if viewing offensive ads is worth leaving the site if the ads continue. That homophobes and pro-lifers could also complain about "offensive" ads does not diminish real criticism of sexist advertising and facebook is certainly not obligated to treat all complaints the same. While it would be a shame to see them develop a lame policy and take away NARAL ads in addition to CPC crap I don't think that's a good enough reason to not complain about sexist, sizeist or dangerous (CPC's, possibly the diet pills) if they bother you enough to do so.

Honestly this is a more moderate, market-dictated spin on social change that I'm generally comfortable with but it seems an appropriate argument here. We are really talking anything earth-shattering here.

That homophobes and pro-lifers could also complain about "offensive" ads does not diminish real criticism of sexist advertising and facebook is certainly not obligated to treat all complaints the same.

Well, it's not criticism that people have a problem with. Rather, it's the notion that criticism necessitates censorship.

Obviously, you can make an argument that these things should be banned--but it never seems like anybody really bothers to do that here, at least not in the original posts. It's usually "this is bad, so everyone complain to whatever authority has the power to eliminate it." I don't know if the authors are just lazy or don't really care about the free speech implications of what they advocate (even from a purely selfish perspective, I think you'd have a hard time making the case that corporate censorship has historically benefited progressive causes), but it's kind of distressing regardless.

oh geez, i keep seeing those weight loss ads (loose that disgusting fat NOW!!), and they keep pissing me off. who are you, internets. to tell me what to do?

i have ad block + but it doesn't seem to be blocking all ads, unfortunately...

I was just bitching about that "OMG. Disgusting." ad with some of my friends in the library, and especially the implication that pudgy/fat women - or even women with just little love handles - are "not supposed to" wear tight clothes or cute lowrider jeans. Pisses me off. Women of all sizes should wear whatever the fuck they want.

I use Myspace, and the ads on there are so offensive i just have to laugh. Recently, I keep getting big ads for "sugardaddie.com" and other sexist "dating" services on my page. In the pro-choice groups i'm in, they have ads for CPCs, abstinence, and adoption. lol

as soon as I saw that ad in feministing, I was like " same old shee-it" yeah. it pissed me off, but especially as both a transsexual woman in transition [ MTF ] whom hears this shit all the time as to how to " tuck that belly of mine" so I'll look more " feminine" and all ; this of course from women mostly! please do not even talk about those " control top pantyhose" ; as they are, well torture to all " fat" women everywhere[ me included! as I am now close to 240 LBS :) ] funny how, as a TS woman in transition, I have been learning as I go along, both from what I read in MS. magazine; as well as when I see those story lines such as some movie star[ was it angelina jolie?] saying " how she lost 15 pounds with this diet- her plan to lose!" funny, here I decided to let my conscience guide me and thus had to joke with some cashier in line at the supermarket; allowing my feminist smart ass ways show! anyway, upon reading this crap in " people magazine" I then said " how I lost 15 pounds? my secret hollywood diet? it's called ' binge and purge' hey this I read in MS MAGAZINE! THE ONLY INTELLEGENT WOMEN'S MAGAZINE IN AMERICA!" the younger cashier gal, by that look on her face, looked like she about peed her panties right then! truth is, as transsexuals, we deal with hearing from other TS's how we should " learn to act,dress,look, more " feminine"- and " weight control" is the first thing besides walking with that sway that we soon get told. I have rebelled against this advice, rather identifying with being a transsexual-feminist woman ; something I feel that, unlike many of my sisters; I definitely am!

as soon as I saw that ad in feministing, I was like " same old shee-it" yeah. it pissed me off, but especially as both a transsexual woman in transition [ MTF ] whom hears this shit all the time as to how to " tuck that belly of mine" so I'll look more " feminine" and all ; this of course from women mostly! please do not even talk about those " control top pantyhose" ; as they are, well torture to all " fat" women everywhere[ me included! as I am now close to 240 LBS :) ] funny how, as a TS woman in transition, I have been learning as I go along, both from what I read in MS. magazine; as well as when I see those story lines such as some movie star[ was it angelina jolie?] saying " how she lost 15 pounds with this diet- her plan to lose!" funny, here I decided to let my conscience guide me and thus had to joke with some cashier in line at the supermarket; allowing my feminist smart ass ways show! anyway, upon reading this crap in " people magazine" I then said " how I lost 15 pounds? my secret hollywood diet? it's called ' binge and purge' hey this I read in MS MAGAZINE! THE ONLY INTELLEGENT WOMEN'S MAGAZINE IN AMERICA!" the younger cashier gal, by that look on her face, looked like she about peed her panties right then! truth is, as transsexuals, we deal with hearing from other TS's how we should " learn to act,dress,look, more " feminine"- and " weight control" is the first thing besides walking with that sway that we soon get told. I have rebelled against this advice, rather identifying with being a transsexual-feminist woman ; something I feel that, unlike many of my sisters; I definitely am!

as soon as I saw that ad in feministing, I was like " same old shee-it" yeah. it pissed me off, but especially as both a transsexual woman in transition [ MTF ] whom hears this shit all the time as to how to " tuck that belly of mine" so I'll look more " feminine" and all ; this of course from women mostly! please do not even talk about those " control top pantyhose" ; as they are, well torture to all " fat" women everywhere[ me included! as I am now close to 240 LBS :) ] funny how, as a TS woman in transition, I have been learning as I go along, both from what I read in MS. magazine; as well as when I see those story lines such as some movie star[ was it angelina jolie?] saying " how she lost 15 pounds with this diet- her plan to lose!" funny, here I decided to let my conscience guide me and thus had to joke with some cashier in line at the supermarket; allowing my feminist smart ass ways show! anyway, upon reading this crap in " people magazine" I then said " how I lost 15 pounds? my secret hollywood diet? it's called ' binge and purge' hey this I read in MS MAGAZINE! THE ONLY INTELLEGENT WOMEN'S MAGAZINE IN AMERICA!" the younger cashier gal, by that look on her face, looked like she about peed her panties right then! truth is, as transsexuals, we deal with hearing from other TS's how we should " learn to act,dress,look, more " feminine"- and " weight control" is the first thing besides walking with that sway that we soon get told. I have rebelled against this advice, rather identifying with being a transsexual-feminist woman ; something I feel that, unlike many of my sisters; I definitely am!

as soon as I saw that ad in feministing, I was like " same old shee-it" yeah. it pissed me off, but especially as both a transsexual woman in transition [ MTF ] whom hears this shit all the time as to how to " tuck that belly of mine" so I'll look more " feminine" and all ; this of course from women mostly! please do not even talk about those " control top pantyhose" ; as they are, well torture to all " fat" women everywhere[ me included! as I am now close to 240 LBS :) ] funny how, as a TS woman in transition, I have been learning as I go along, both from what I read in MS. magazine; as well as when I see those story lines such as some movie star[ was it angelina jolie?] saying " how she lost 15 pounds with this diet- her plan to lose!" funny, here I decided to let my conscience guide me and thus had to joke with some cashier in line at the supermarket; allowing my feminist smart ass ways show! anyway, upon reading this crap in " people magazine" I then said " how I lost 15 pounds? my secret hollywood diet? it's called ' binge and purge' hey this I read in MS MAGAZINE! THE ONLY INTELLEGENT WOMEN'S MAGAZINE IN AMERICA!" the younger cashier gal, by that look on her face, looked like she about peed her panties right then! truth is, as transsexuals, we deal with hearing from other TS's how we should " learn to act,dress,look, more " feminine"- and " weight control" is the first thing besides walking with that sway that we soon get told. I have rebelled against this advice, rather identifying with being a transsexual-feminist woman ; something I feel that, unlike many of my sisters; I definitely am!

as soon as I saw that ad in feministing, I was like " same old shee-it" yeah. it pissed me off, but especially as both a transsexual woman in transition [ MTF ] whom hears this shit all the time as to how to " tuck that belly of mine" so I'll look more " feminine" and all ; this of course from women mostly! please do not even talk about those " control top pantyhose" ; as they are, well torture to all " fat" women everywhere[ me included! as I am now close to 240 LBS :) ] funny how, as a TS woman in transition, I have been learning as I go along, both from what I read in MS. magazine; as well as when I see those story lines such as some movie star[ was it angelina jolie?] saying " how she lost 15 pounds with this diet- her plan to lose!" funny, here I decided to let my conscience guide me and thus had to joke with some cashier in line at the supermarket; allowing my feminist smart ass ways show! anyway, upon reading this crap in " people magazine" I then said " how I lost 15 pounds? my secret hollywood diet? it's called ' binge and purge' hey this I read in MS MAGAZINE! THE ONLY INTELLEGENT WOMEN'S MAGAZINE IN AMERICA!" the younger cashier gal, by that look on her face, looked like she about peed her panties right then! truth is, as transsexuals, we deal with hearing from other TS's how we should " learn to act,dress,look, more " feminine"- and " weight control" is the first thing besides walking with that sway that we soon get told. I have rebelled against this advice, rather identifying with being a transsexual-feminist woman ; something I feel that, unlike many of my sisters; I definitely am!

by the way, sorry for the triple posts, this site seems to work very slow[ or is it my computer? as ebay as washington post.com does the same], and when I hit " post" it overposted. I wanted to remove the others, but can't figure it out.

That's awesome, Cheryl Lynne. Being a woman, and being "feminine," is not about weight control. It is about being exactly whoever the hell you want to be.

I recently had to switch my relationship status from "engaged" to "in a relationship." I was getting so many targeted ads about wedding destination that I was sick of hearing about it. But the ads that made me switch my status were ads such as "Skinny Bride Secrets" that I would get all the time telling me how I was not thin enough to get married. It's good to know that we can report the ads.

This is my first visit to feministing.

I'm a little confused why there is an ad for Weight Watchers for every few inches of screen space...aren't you trying to fight the diet mentality?

Meloncamp, I think the ads you're seeing are ones that Feministing doesn't choose. Otherwise I would be complaining about the million Netflix ads I have. I can't even USE Netflix.

Regarding the love handles ad, I have to say that the poor gal in the picture is a victim of bad fashion and bad posture. Not fat. Her jeans are ass-rider jeans. Asses have fat on them. If you put on low jeans with a BELT and then lean to one side, as it appears she's doing, then of course some flubber's going to hang over. I'm sure when she stands upright she looks just dandy. But lean to one side? Disgusting! OMG! EW!

I keep getting ads on my personal blog about "ugly belly fat." I haven't figured out even why I get them ... my belly barely has fat on it. It's my hips that need work (DISGUSTING!). I also get a million ads for foreign brides (I live in Asia) or meeting foreign men. Woohoo.

allegra,
i had the same problem when i switched my status to engaged, but it was worst when i switched it to married. now they send me advertisements about "my children", though i do not have children or want to have them for some time. i agree it's annoying.

Get Firefox and you can block every ad.

Firefox, a much better browser than Explorer, allows an add-on called adblock. It prevents ads from appearing on your screen.

Add Flashblock and all animated ads are gone, too!

Adblock installation:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/10

Flashblock installation:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/433

Facebook and MySpace are a helluva lot more fun without the annoying ads for dating sites, taxidermy service, etc.

Kathleen Sebelius for VP!

Thank you for posting about this! It's been causing me mild panic attacks for the past few weeks...

Dito sebadoh999, I always use Firefox and didn't even know Myspace (don't use facebook) had annoying ads. It doesn't get rid of every ad, but probably most of them because I hardly see any and I often have Firefox tell me it's blocking ads for me.

Banning things simply because a large group of people finds it offensive definitely falls under censorship. Something we all need to be wary of when promoting our respective causes.
However, I'm wondering if these ads are not simply offensive...but cross the line of discrimination. "Body-ism" or whatever you want to call it. What do you all think?

Some people have noted that too much belly fat is in fact harmful and a health risk. I completely agree. Based on that, an acceptable form of these ads would be to replace the text with "attain a healthy weight". Except you'd need different pictures, because the models here are not nearly large enough to have health issues. And some sort of healthy diet to back it up, which is not what I suspect these lead to. So no, the fact that being overweight is a health risk does not excuse calling someone with a little belly fat "disgusting"

Personally, I am tired of seeing "flabby stomachs" paraded in front of me all of the time on facebook. I have NO DESIRE to see anyone's midsection who I am not in a sexual relationship with. It is quite disturbing and it gets deep under my skin. I dont want diet pills and I dont want diet secrets.
The worst thing about the ads, though, is that they know my age and my gender and actually address me specifically. I am close to leaving facebook; I am not that attatched.