Sure, we’ve got a long way to go until we can comfortably say that society is no longer placing pressure on women to look and act a certain way — but we’ve made progress! Er, at least so we thought.
On Friday afternoon, Demi Lovato lifted the curtain to reveal that, lo and behold, there are still plenty of companies out there capitalizing on women’s insecurities about their bodies, looking to exploit their fears for a buck or two. The singer posted a screenshot to her Instagram story of an ad that showed up on her Instagram feed, imploring the app to do better in monitoring the kind of content that is shown to impressionable young users.
The ad, for a game called Game of Sultans, shows two cartoon women placed side-by-side, with the left showing a woman labeled “obese” and the right a woman labeled “pretty.”
“Why is this fat shaming bullshit on my feed?” Lovato wrote over the image. “So many things wrong with this ad. 1. You can be ‘pretty’ at any weight.”
Lovato, who is in recovery from an eating disorder and has been candid about her struggle to accept her body, also called out the use of the word “controlled” that was used to describe the thinner woman, noting how eating disorders are often “all about control.”
RELATED: Demi Lovato Leaves Rehab and Is “Doing Well,” According to Source
She concluded with a plea to Instagram to be more cognizant of the kinds of materials they’re promoting, as well as a diss toward the game itself. “With how aware people are becoming of mental health and mental illnesses, I expect you guys to know better by allowing this advertisement to be allowed on your app. And shame on the game.”
TMZ reports that the ad has since been removed from the app, according to a rep for Instagram. “We’re sorry. This ad was approved by mistake,” the company told the outlet. “We reviewed it again and removed it from future delivery in people’s feeds.”
Though she’s been relatively quiet on social media since her release from rehab after her drug overdose in July, Lovato’s decision to speak up about body image is in line with her previous advocacy for the body positivity movement. And she’s got support.
Kim Kardashian retweeted Lovato’s message with a simple statement: Three clapping hand emoji. Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
Source: Read Full Article