I hate SkinnyMint. Harsh words for a product I’ve never even seen in the store or tried out myself (frankly, who would want to?). Who would’ve thought that this brand from Singapore could attempt to do so much damage to the minds of young women? ‘No,’ I tell you. ‘I REFUSE to LIKE!’.
The nature of Facebook advertising has made it easy for brands to burden young women with advertisements that they may not want or need to see. And SkinnyMint is one such company attempting to do so. The company, in my opinion, is selling more than a ‘quick fix’ tea detox product claiming to make women skinny ‘again’ (hence the product name). In fact, the company is selling the idea of skinniness as an ideal. Their recent Facebook advertisement tells us that a woman is only ‘gorgeous’ because she is losing weight from taking SkinnyMint. It also appears that young women (and SkinnyMint) are equating being skinny with being healthy, a comparison fraught with irregularities.
More disturbing is the company’s hashtag #DareToBeGorgeous which is frankly a challenge and calls for young women to strive to be skinny as this is seen as being gorgeous, beautiful, and the ‘ideal’. The question I beg to ask is – by whom exactly? Gorgeous by the standards of other (skinny) women or some sad advertiser living off the low self-esteem of ladies everywhere? And in any event, who is to say you are not gorgeous in the eyes of others already? Either way, first and foremost, you should feel gorgeous within despite what others think, right?
So, I appeal to young women everywhere – do not give in to this consumerist hogwash (and SkinnyMint is not alone in the matter). SkinnyMint is only trying to steal your money (which you had better keep for your college education) and, in the process, play on your self-esteem and self-worth. Hide the ads (dropdown arrow in the top-right corner), pour yourself a nice cup of Rooibos tea with ginger, lemon and honey (equally does the trick and keeps you healthy) and call ‘Love, Health and Happiness’ in the mirror. But for heavens sake, eat something proper thereafter…