We explain why shaming people for being overweight and the “wrong” choice of products is much worse than offering them free sweets, we explain using the example of a recent scandal.
It all started with the COVID-19 vaccine. Nothing can be done, in 2021 this topic is still the main newsbreak. So, in the US, for many months, health organizations have been urging Americans to get vaccinated. Marketers did not stand aside either: for example, a well-known brand offered to give everyone who gets vaccinated a free glazed donut every day until the end of the year.
In this regard, the medical community sounded the alarm: some severely criticized the campaign, emphasizing that everyone who participates in such an action will inevitably gain weight. Others regarded the statements of the former as fatphobic (that is, insulting people because of their fullness) and again raised the topic of body shaming. And it continues to be relevant in many countries.
We wanted the best, it turned out as always
It has long been known that fat shaming (derived from the English words “fat” and “shame”) does not lead to anything good, and moreover, it harms health, both physical and mental. However, stigma and the emphasis on guilt continue to be the most widely used tools in the medical community.
In addition, overweight people are subject to real discrimination: they are treated worse than the rest, and sooner or later, many simply begin to avoid visiting doctors.
Weight gain today, unfortunately, is equated with failure, a moral decline.
“Unfortunately, many doctors do not even think about how much they harm patients,” sighs nutritionist Kimmy Singh. “They are confident that they know what is best, and that, out of concern, they are simply “opening the patient’s eyes” using the most harsh and ruthless language.”
The panic around the action of the «donut» brand was not caused by concern for people’s health, but by fatphobia and the fear of gaining weight (which, by the way, does not necessarily happen at all, but more on that later), agrees social psychologist Jeffrey Hanger. As a result, overweight people indulge in even greater ostracism. “Weight gain today, unfortunately, is equated with failure, with a moral decline.”
Why is that bad?
Fatphobia destroys people’s relationship with food and with their own bodies. “People, especially overweight people, are already ashamed of what kind of food they choose,” explains Kimmy Singh. “Society does not seem to allow them to eat what their more slender fellow citizens are allowed to, and the health consequences of this are deplorable: this often leads to the development of eating disorders and the formation of harmful eating habits.”
The majority, not being limited in possibilities and choice, eat varied and generally healthy.
She is convinced that free donuts are not necessarily harmful to health. “There is a widespread misconception that you can’t give people unlimited access to food — they say, in this case they will not be able to limit themselves and control their food and will overeat donuts from morning to evening.” This is not so: most of us, not being limited in opportunities and choices, eat varied and generally healthy.
“To overeat donuts from morning to evening” we can only be pushed by strict prohibitions and restrictions. In addition, even if people decide to take advantage of the promotion and receive a donut a day, most likely they will replace this sweetness with another, something else that they have already consumed, and, probably, in general, calorie intake will remain the same.
It’s not just about the food
It’s not just about what we eat. “Our health today depends on genetics, behavior, socioeconomic status, access to medical services, how your doctor treats us, and much more. Therefore, it is strange to think that one donut a day will destroy health, ”says Singh.
In addition, according to her, behind all this indignation that has risen around the action, it is easy to forget: in fact, its purpose (in addition to brand PR) was to convince people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. And he certainly is much more detrimental to health than donuts. So it’s simple: encouraging people to get vaccinated is good for the health of the population as a whole, but fanning the fire of fatphobia and body shaming certainly doesn’t help.