As part of an ad campaign, the health club chain Fitness First has turned a bus stop bench in the Netherlands into a scale that displays people’s weights on a large LCD screen.
Public shaming can a pretty powerful motivational tool and all, but I wonder: Should we be outraged or impressed? Then again, is this even good marketing in the first place?
Via The Cool Hunter.
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DISCUSSION: 8 Comments
I always figured fat people knew they were fat. Do less fat people who feel they are already over weight(but are not) need to have that ridiculous notion reinforced? Verging on sexism: don’t most women carry 3 or 4 pounds of stuff in their bags? Not to mention clothes? Maybe the Dutch are less susceptible to societal influence on their psyche?
i imagine it will just make everyone avoid those bus stops. perhaps will even start driving in order to avoid bus stops, thereby reducing walk time even more and upping weight gain.
boo hoo, i think its great! let the world know you are pig.. lose the weight, bravo netherlands!
wow. amazing. i wouldnt sit down.
Would this ad make people go to the gym (or even THEIR gym?) or just go on insane diets?
Great idea. I think the only thing that will get you motivated to do something about being overweight is shame. Its kinda sad but I think its true.
At the very least it will make people kinda freaked out to sit down and therefore stand a bit more….And if they insist on sitting, it’s well proven that (with someone who DOES want to change their weight/lifestlye) the more often someone is made aware of things they want to change (ie. weight) the easier it is for them to take the weight off. Ohp. Modern Jackass.Also, people (esp. in the Netherlands) aren’t gonna avoid public transit because of a marketing campaign. If they’d use that excuse they’d already be in their sedan for some other reason…
Chris.Bloise – I think you have the right idea but the wrong application and label. What you’re talking about is guilting. And you can guilt in one of two ways. Guilting into shame (the way you cite) is great for making people feel like shit and encouraging them from making changes based on extrinsic motivation. People guilted into shame may follow through with actions that benefit them, but stop once the shame is gone. Guilting into empowerment, on the other hand, drives individuals through feelings of intrinsic motivation and knowledge of their innate ability to solve the problem.What’s brilliant about this marketing is that it guilts into empowerment by displaying the solution right under the fatties’ noses. This way, someone can say, “Holy shit, I can’t believe I weigh that much. But wow, check that out, [insert company name here] is offering me 25% of my membership fee. That’s totally doable. Like your mom.”