Customer Service —
So, get this…
Yesterday, I posted my video in which I called out Strong4Life for having Phase 2 of their campaign in the can already, and included a clip from the Today Show interview where I first saw them.
Well, no sooner had I posted this video when, lo and behold, the videos from Phase 2 were posted on Strong4Life’s YouTube channel.
Would any of you have been pissed if these were the original ads that Strong4Life had posted? Would anyone have denounced Strong4Life if they had focused on positive messages instead of negative?
And, an even bigger question, does this spell the end for Phase 1 of Strong4Life’s Shame Campaign?
What do you think?
Create your own video telling Strong4Life what it’s like to be a bullied fat kid and submit to our End Fat Bullying Tumblr.
Really? They couldn’t have started the campaign with these more positive ads? What ineptitude.
When these ads show up on Georgia television stations and those awful billboards come down, then, and only then, will Phase 1 of their shaming/blaming campaign have ended. After all, not all kids have access to YouTube to see these videos, so what good is it going to do if only a few (or even only half) of the kids you’ve been bullying with the billboards get to see the YouTube videos? And do they really think these videos are going to undo the damage they did with Phase 1? Yeah, right. All the “I’m sorry”s in the world don’t undo the cruel words, don’t take away the pain, even years later (I still remember being called Maryelephant in junior high school and how painful that was and how I hated my name because of it [and still hate my name to this day because of it], and that was 45 fucking years ago). If S4L thinks I’m going to cut them any slack because they’ve rolled out Phase 2 while Phase 1 is still in effect, they’re sadly mistaken - they’re still douchecanoes.
I don’t understand these videos. They’re so short and they don’t really say much by themselves. Without the context of the phase 1 ads, they seem to be just people being happy and active…which of course I’m perfectly happy with…but considering the context of being connected to the phase 1 ads and S4L’s advice on how to address the “obesity epidemic,” these ads seem to be a less direct continuation….as if they are saying, “Well, I was lethargic and sad because I ate at Golden Corral Buffet every day and my only exercise was going from the table to the buffet line and back…but now, since S4L told me I should run around and hug my mom, I am in the process of losing the weight and becoming happy…” I wonder what phase 3 is…are they going to find child actors that look vaguely similar to the original actors but who are thin and show how overjoyed they and their families are now that they are universally successful in everything they do and universally praised and loved by everyone around them? forgive me for being skeptic, but I think S4L is still in the process of telling lies and that these videos are simply spilling glitter on a pile of horse poo.
I think these videos are less shaming but more….insidious… they make it seem like there’s a positive message at the end of that rainbow but after you click you’re still swathed in messages of “we’ve had enough” and “time to wake up” but you’re already there and that positive message with the happy people and the smiles has lulled you and lowered your defenses and you stay on the site. *wah wahhhhhhhhh*
Standard practice for perpetrators of violence (including symbolic violence): abuse followed by promises or gestures of caring and concern. These images are a predictable part of the cycle of domination. They help construct the “campaign” as a form of health “care” rather than revealing what it hides from view and, thus, normalizes: the construction and maintenance of fear, self doubt, self-loathing, hate, prejudice, and discrimination. Like a page taken from a manual: Domination 101 for (so-called) health “care” professionals and other status seeking, power hungry social groups. Motto: we do it for their own good.