Not Leaving The Average Behind.

The concept of Dove – ‘Real Beautiful Women’ does not exist. They may have featured full women in their campaigns but airbrushing out the cellulite didn’t speak well for the cause.

All of them were pretty women, big bodies with no sagging boobs or muffin layers folding over granny panties or objectionable gluteal folds camouflaging into the back thigh.

In a country where obesity is reaching epidemic proportions (as per wiki) we’re still pretty obsessed with the adjectives ‘thin’ and ‘fair’

A recent photo shoot done by an Ishaqzaadi speaks volumes of how we live our lives as a mere perception of what others expect us to be.

Though she was sweet looking, yes, the excess baggage was turning out to be an occupational hazard, but what made me go Tch*Tch is the announcement of the revised packaging.

Hot & sweaty workout pictures, with in your face cleavage, butt (now the lack of it), toned thighs with legs spread wide enough for the imagination to run wild, heels, a ghetto caged fencing, an almost toned tummy and a lot of panache on display, random motivational lines and a hashtag to justify the existence of the shoot provided plenty to grab eye balls, or balls in general.

This campaign reminded me of another celeb’s comeback. Just when the world had stopped saying “Kaha Na Pyaar Hai, Haan Tumse pyaar Hai..” she signed on as brand ambassador for a local product that was literally available across two stores in India. Rumors were, she sanctioned manufacturing of a batch with the sole purpose of monopolizing hoardings with THE return.

Yes, we all feel well with a hot body and especially if we’ve struggled hard to loose it, why not put it on display? I would! I’d dress in those little things, which, only my fingers fit through earlier. I’d go to every friend’s party and my strut would scream confidence like never before. I’d blush when people would tell me how much weight I’ve lost, I’d thank them graciously if they said I’ve never looked better, and I would proudly tell tales of endurance and hard work to a bunch of eager ears waiting to be motivated.

There are ways of getting noticed other than holding a press conference for announcing the grams you’ve left behind. Instead of dishing out a series of random meaningless pictures, I wish her PR  had worked extra hard to Challenge The Difficult by bagging endorsements with fitness brands. Even releasing pictures infringing on her privacy while she enjoyed a foreign holiday or a late night coffee with ‘just a friend’ would have been subtler and less questionable. 

After the initial “Oh Hey! She’s lost weight”, many finally came around to, what is this about, what is she endorsing, what are these lines? And soon the agenda was weightless. What does Built That Way mean anyway? How are the arbitrary lines, most of which highly debatable, even connected? When most of your life your body has been average and you've been proud of it, now you suddenly aspire to Leave The Average Behind?

I almost never feel motivated by celeb weight loss stories. One cause their careers depend on it (stardom is hard not to like). Two cause of the amount of supervision and tools constantly at their disposal. Give me a story on how your next-door neighbor went from ‘zero to hero’ and I might bite.

I respect that you had the discipline to loose weight and hope you manage to keep it off – cause that’s the hard part, and you do look very hot in some of your pics, but this photo-opp to me was bordering #tryingtoohard