Anyone else annoyed with the ARE YOU FAT CLICK HERE banners?

I am sure many of my plus size My Space friends (many of whom I will never meet, but you are my kindred sister, nonetheless) have been on MySpace and noticed the below banner ad. Over the past few days, I think it is the ONLY AD that is running at the top of my screen. I own a company. I do banner ads. But, it never occurred to me - ever - hey, let's attract new business by INSULTING people. Let's call people FAT and then maybe they will say - hhhh......fat.....yes, you must be talking to me....I'm sorry, it took the word FAT to get my attention.

I clicked on the ad (I know, I shouldn't have) but I wanted to figure out who it was so I could tell each an every one of you NOT TO CLICK ON THIS AD OR BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY. For many reasons, but primarily because I am flabbergasted at their total lack of courtesy towards their potential customers.

Now, before I go sounding like a hypocrite (a title I sometimes associate myself with)...I own a company - I sell plus size clothes. We have a MySpace page. It is important for us to constantly introduce our brand to our potential audience, so we spend a lot of time adding new friends in MySpace (and we hope our existing friends tell their friends about us). How do we find those
friends? We browse for women who have added "a little more to love" or "little extra" as that is our target demographic, not only for our clothing line, but for Curvy Girl TV, an online station launching in January 2009. I am sure this Acai Berry company paid a lot of money to advertise to that same little group with their banner ad (above). My husband, who is not overweight, does not see this ad (I checked). So, kudos, MySpace, you clutter my bannerspace with products and companies dedicated to getting me out of the plus size demographic. And believe me, I've tried. I continue to try. As many of us do for whatever reason we have. But, because I am overweight, do not assume I am stupid. Do not assume that you can insult me and that I will be eager to go buy your product, just because, gasp, god forbid I'm fat. I won't be buying your product. I will tell my friends, family, and anyone who listens - do not buy this product. I don't care if it works (most fad diets do) - I don't care if Oprah loves it (allegedly). Is this how someone would advertise to a non plus person? Would they say "Hey, skinny b!Tche$! CLICK ME!!" Maybe they would. The reasons advertisers do this is because IT WORKS. So, ladies, stop making it work. Stop clicking on the ad. Stop buying the voodoo and crazy fad diet products. Billions of dollars are spent each year on products that (for the average person) don't work or, if they do, they don't last. In my lifetime, I've probably lost (and gained) 200-300 pounds (if you count each swing of up and down) and spent thousands of dollars. It is a daily battle for many of us and a lot of us want a quick fix for a long term problem. Let's not make these companies any richer. Please. And let's not put up with their name calling any more. While the word FAT doesn't bother me, per se, it is the thought of this company questioning my intelligence that does. I will no longer pay people to insult me. Join me in this cause. When advertisers start speaking to us like our best interest (and not just our money) are part of their concern, we will start opening our wallets.

Below I have listed my version of the banner (and I'm not much of a graphic artist, I know) - please feel free to take it and put it on your site :)

As always - love your body - every curvy inch of it (and if you are in L.A. - join us at the Love Your Body Day on October 12th in West Hollywood where Chenese Lewis & Kim Coles are sure to put on one heck of an event for women of all sizes - encouraging all of us to love the body we are in...it's the only one we're gonna have)

~Lisa