Fitness company slammed for ‘inappropriate’ poster outside school, owner fights back

A fitness company recently came under fire for one of their fitness advertisements which they posted outside of a school, the owner not too happy with the criticism responded back.

Skinnypigs Fitness in the UK placed a banner outside of a school, the ad features two figures, one heavier and another with a much slimmer silhouette, complete with an arrow pointing from the heavier one to the slimmer one. Next to the images is a bold yellow “CAUTION: Skinnypigs will make you look better naked.”

On Twitter, people criticized the company for both the message as well as the location where it was put up.

Another woman wrote, “That’s so shocking in so many ways. Negative body image, inappropriate location & a truly awful company name.”

Still another Twitter user accused Skinnypigs of “purporting outdated and dangerous gender stereotypes.”

kinnypigs owner, Jonathan Hair, unhappy with the attacks his business was receiving, decided to give it back, resulting in a heated back-and-forth on the social media site.

Here are the responses Hair tweeted from the Skinnypigs handle.

“You don’t even realise that modern feminism is so polluted with self loathing, man hating looms. We have equality now, it’s a good thing. While we are giving advice, stop being a feminazi, you are in the wrong side of history. You’ll see when you’re all growed up.”

“Thanks for the input, you’d look far less stupid if you looked into what Skinnypigs is and has achieved if you did a little research.”

“You don’t even realise that modern feminism is so polluted with self loathing, man hating looms. We have equality now, it’s a good thing”

“Oooo a feminazi eh, I should have known with the glasses.”

“Just another whiny feminazi who will end up bitter and alone with house full of cats (but thinks she can change the world by complaining).”

His responses fueled his opponents’ fire, and many launched more attacks about the perceived fat-shaming sign, and vowed to no longer give business to Skinnypigs.

Actual customers of Skinnypigs, who were sitting on the fence, decided to pitch in. Skinnypigs die-hards came out in support of their favorite fitness center by sharing their own weight-loss success stories.

Another Twitter user said, “Getting ready for Skinnypigs, a place [where] we support, encourage and empower each other.”

“I’m quite worried, I employ 50 people, 48 are women, they are ringing me crying thinking they might not have jobs. The people attacking us have no empathy. They don’t realize there are real world repercussions, this is people’s livelihood. I felt like my back was against the wall. It was an online lynch mob. People were just throwing out adjectives.

All the hate I was getting, people calling me sexist. I just replied that, over the last seven years, I have helped over 100 women feel better in their own skins, what have you done? Everything I said was tongue-in-cheek and I got a lot worse than what I gave by a country mile,” Hair later said that he had “nothing to be sorry for” but admitted that he should have ignored those comments.