Loss of Boyfriend

This isn't a fun time to be a fat activist. This is "resolution season" so every diet under the sun (and those who pretend they aren't diets) are spending small fortunes trying to remind us all to hate our bodies and to give them money to fix it. You simply cannot watch TV, read a newspaper, or even walk down the street without being confronted with reminders to hate fat.  So, it takes a lot for something to stick out from this filth.

Always can count on Subway, though.

In their ongoing effort to pander to people who think they are dieticians because they saw the sensationalized piece of trash called "Supersize Me", they've got a commercial where they suggest what really comes with a McDonald's value meal. A customer is given a long list of all the horrible things that come with eating one freakin' Big Mac. Its the usual, "you'll become a fatty!" kind of taunting that we've seen in other similar ads from Subway. This one had a new one, though. Among the horrors the customer would have to endure was "loss of boyfriend".

Way to stick too fine a point on it, Subway. The honesty is almost refreshing. Only almost, because then you remember that they actually seem to believe this garbage. The reason to watch your figure isn't really health. It isn't your own sense of self-worth. Indeed, the woman only balks at the "loss of self esteem", seems she'd be fine getting fat as long as she had a good sense of self worth; since the point of the commercial is to shame, her, though, she's not allowed to hold the "loss of self esteem".  No, no. The real scare factor here is that boys won't like you if you're a fatty!

Really. That's what we've come down to. I mean, the point gets made all the time. There is some stupid Nutrifraud commercial on, too, where a woman brags about how sexy she is. Another old one had a woman bragging that her husband is now calling her his trophy wife. But even that was clouded with a veneer of "empowerment" that dieting often douses itself with to obscure its hegemonic role. Not here, though, because instead of being offered as "personal" accomplishment, its painted as a threat. Stay thin, or the fellas will steer clear.

Nice to see the pretense dropped. It'd be nicer if people saw this as a problem, though. I'm guessing they won't. "Loss of boyfriend" makes too much cultural sense for people to think of the problem with it.