If you crave food, you should eat it because you're a human who requires sustenance and—oh yeah—because you don't have to feel bad about eating regardless of whether you're fulling a basic need or treating yourself! However, earlier this week, Twitter caught on to a Times Square billboard that specifically targets women and offers alternative advice.
The ad is pink and features a woman eating two Flat Tummy Co. appetite suppressing lollipops. "Got cravings?" it reads. "Girl, tell them to #suckit."
After spotting the message, Sophie Vershbow, a New York-based social media editor, took a photo and shared it on Twitter with a plea for help getting the ad taken down. (It's unclear how long it's been up.) After all, its appetite-shaming doesn't just send the wrong messages to women in general, but can be particularly triggering for people with a history of disordered eating.
When actor Jameela Jamil spotted the campaign, she called the brand out for targeting women in particular—"Why aren't there any boys in the ad? Why is it fucking pink?"—in tweet that was liked more than 11,000 times and mustered hundreds of comments.
"This is maddening and heartbreaking and daylight robbery and an abuse of a woman's self worth," Jamil later added. Others chimed right in to critique the brand, which Kim Kardashian has promoted on Instagram, although the #ad was allegedly "mistakenly" deleted temporarily following backlash.
The company has yet to respond to a request for comment on whether their ad will be removed in response to the backlash. In the meantime, if you don't like it, you can always just tell them to #SuckIt—their words!
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