These ‘sexist’ weight loss posters have been slammed by thousands of women

THIS is the “sexist” ad so controversial even celebrities are joining the call to have it removed. But is it really that offensive?

A SERIES of “disgusting” advertisements for an appetite suppressant on display in New York’s Times Square have been savaged by a leading TV star.

The Good Place actor Jameela Jamil tweeted a photo of the billboard campaign for the Flat Tummy Company products, which features a woman sucking a lollipop with the phrase: “Girl, tell them to suck it.”

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The company, which sells a range of lollipops, tea and milkshakes which contain ingredients designed to curb the customer’s appetite, has been widely criticised for its “sexist” and “body shaming” advertising and for promoting an unhealthy body image through its clear targeting of young girls and women.

It’s a sentiment shared by Jamil, who posted: “EVEN TIMES SQUARE IS TELLING WOMEN TO EAT LESS NOW? Have we actually gone mad? Why aren’t there any boys in the ad? Why is it f***ing PINK? Because you feel men can look however they want? Their goals are to be successful. But ours are to just be smaller? F**k off @FlatTummyCo”.

Tweet over times square billboard

Within a few days, her tweet had received almost 12,000 likes, 3000 retweets and hundreds of comments.

Jamil followed up her initial post with another, which described the posters as “maddening and heartbreaking, and daylight robbery and abuse of women’s self worth”.

Thousands of mostly female followers agreed with the actor’s tweet, with one Twitter user posting: “WHY is this campaign still going? I’m in disbelief,” while another added: “No, don’t tell women to #suckit. Tell them to be proud of who they are. That having a flat tummy, being thin or pretty is NOT what women should aspire towards. Focus on being a successful person that is unrelated to how you look.”

Some also took aim at the billboards’ prime location in one of the world’s most prominent tourist attractions.

“It’s disgusting that they even allow that kinda advert to be used in such an influential location! Women already have enough pressure to look and behave how society says we should without that kinda thing,” one person wrote, while others criticised the sexualised images used in the ads.

Tweet 2 re times square billboard

tweet 3 re billboard times square

tweet 4 re billboard times square

“Babes, tummy, lollipops — the infantilisation couldn’t be clearer — and it shades into both targeting children in their drugs-based diets, and also the sexualisation of children. Disgusting,” one Twitter user posted.

Hey Twitter,

Let’s use our power for good by guilting @FlatTummyCo into taking down their Times Square billboard advertising appetite suppressants.

Love,
A former-anorexic teenage girl pic.twitter.com/Tiyj1fwrpD

— Sophie Vershbow (@svershbow) July 9, 2018

Meanwhile, others warned the potentially harmful message — to replace meals with lollipops — could even be triggering for those with eating disorders, with many calling for them to be removed altogether.

Jameela Jamil, far right, pictured with her The Good Place co-stars. Picture: Instagram

Jamil has previously slammed reality star Kim Kardashian for promoting The Flat Tummy Company’s appetite-dulling products, posting on Twitter: “No. F**k off. No. You terrible and toxic influence on young girls. I admire their mother’s branding capabilities, she is an exploitative but innovative genius, however this family makes me feel actual despair over what women are reduced to,” alongside photos of the mother-of-three with one of the lollipops.

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