A Gold’s gym franchise advertised with a nicely-produced social media post. It featured a photo of an elegant pear (Bartlett, I think) with the caption “THIS IS NO SHAPE FOR A GIRL”.
What great salesmanship! The customer is always contemptible! I’m surprised they didn’t just go for broke and use a photo of a TUB OF LARD.
Soon it was bouncing around the internet accompanied by cries of fury. People said they were disgusted. They asked why it was apparently okay for guys to be pear-shaped. They said this is why there are 9-year-old-girls with eating disorders.
The franchise, “Gold’s Gym Dreamland,” is located in Cairo. Original Cairo, the one in Egypt.
After a few days they put out an apology:
our apology, this post was not meant to offend anyone, and not against god’s creation, or any type of women’s body, it was meant to refer to a Healthy Fit body and cutting fats, NOT THE ACTUAL STRUCTURE OF THE BODY.
So Again our Apology. for all the women out there.
Huh? Cutting fats? Because pears are so fatty? I DON’T THINK SO.
I wasn’t able to find a photo of a tub of lard. Here’s a shapely dish of lard.
And what is that about god’s creation? Did the pear growers council get after them for disrespecting a delicious and distinctive fruit?
I suppose they didn’t mean to offend anyone, exactly, they just wanted to make them think they should RUSH TO THE GYM.
If you look as good as these pears, congratulations.
Bad apology. Fails for denial.
Then a much longer apology was put forward by Gold’s Gym, the franchisor. So much longer. I’ll shorten a bit:
Words cannot express how shocked and appalled we were by the recent posts of Gold’s Gym Dreamland, a sub-franchise in Cairo, Egypt. Not only were they offensive and disgusting, they go against everything we believe in and stand for. For years we have been dedicated to helping people feel empowered by fitness, not intimidated or ashamed…. [inspirational piffle omitted]
Upon learning of this sub-franchisee’s insensitive posts, we immediately took action by working with Facebook to have their page removed. Also, after consultation with our master franchise in Gold’s Gym Egypt, we are in the process of expediting the termination of this sub-franchisee’s agreement…. [repetitive repudiation omitted]
With all of this said, we sincerely apologize for these posts. Even though they were created and posted without our knowledge, they were associated with our logo and there’s no excuse for that. We are currently reviewing our internal procedures for how both domestic and international franchisees create and share social media posts so that nothing like this ever happens again.
More importantly, to our members, fans, team members and franchisees around the world, we share your anger. We are mothers, sisters & daughters too and this is unacceptable. We understand that as a brand with a presence in 30 countries, we have a responsibility to spread a message of empowerment…. [promotional ballyhoo omitted]
Daumier apparently felt that a king might look like a pear. But he didn’t involve a gym.
Somewhat better, but needs work. They do not actually say what happened – reading this apology on its own, you can’t tell. (Always a bad sign.) The post could have likened women’s earlobes to artichokes! Or men’s bodies to the thinking of Henry George! Or cat videos to genocide!
In a twist on the common “That’s not me” excuse, they have the option of saying “That’s not us – any more!” If thy right hand offend thee, expedite the termination of its agreement.
They do say what they’re going to do about it (whatever it was). Not the part about disenfranchisement so much as the part about reviewing their procedures.
Way too much about how fabulously empowering they are. And it’s confusing when they say they are “mothers, sisters & daughters too.” Gold’s isn’t a women’s gym: aren’t they fathers, brothers, and sons? Is the idea that only women care about body-shaming, since the post was aimed at women? Not so fast.
“An homage to the legendary Biting Pear of Salamanca by Ursula Vernon” – homage by Krimpet. AKA the LOL WUT pear. See http://ursulav.deviantart.com/art/The-Biting-Pear-of-Salamanca-29677500 Just TRY to get this pear on rowing machine. And do not even start with the bighorn pears.
Something I’d mention to the soon-to-be-disenfranchised Gold’s Gym in Cairo: people often try to motivate themselves to exercise by means of self-hatred. This doesn’t seem to work very well. Maybe you don’t realize how badly it works, or maybe you don’t care, as long as you think it’ll get people to bring their credit card to the gym.
But here’s my point: no one wants to be mocked. Self-contempt is one thing; the contempt of others is different. No one wants to go to a gym where people judge. They might say cruel things to themselves about being pear-shaped, but that doesn’t mean they want to hear it from you.
Bad ad.
Pear is actually a good SHAPE for a girl. Women whose fat accumulates on their hips have lower heart disease rates than those whose fat accumulates on their waist.
nice !
nice