i was fat and black, now im slim and white.

I was aimlessly flipping through the Sunday edition of the Saint Augustine Record Sports Section when I came across an advertisement that I normally would never bother to look at. For some reason this Jacksonville Weight Loss Program ad caught my eye and I began scanning the page filled with eight people who had participated in the program. They were all standing in a line next to each other with giant smiles of success printed on their faces.

A line drew from each participant to a photo of what they looked like before they began the program. I’ve seen these weight loss ads before on television and I usually ask myself if these stories of great weight loss are true. I end up giving the “actor” and the product the benefit of the doubt and tip my hat even though in the back of my mind I’m sure that bodies have been edited to make them more lean and cut than they really are.

This particular advertisement however, seemed like there was no evidence of editing or Photoshopping. No person in the photo has their shirt off or is wearing a bikini. This advertisement seems to be trying to reach out to the everyday, average Joe six pack and hockey mom. If I were someone trying to lose weight and saw this ad, I may consider signing up for this program. The layout of the ad is very professional and giving examples of people who have completed the program helps the viewer know that it does work.

There is a turn off on this ad that I noticed very early on. When I first started scanning the ad, I was looking at the before and after photos of the participants. The man second from the right is a bald white man who wears glasses named Roger. I followed the line from the top of Rogers’s head that directed me towards his before picture. In the photo, Roger was also bald, wore glasses and was 119 lbs heavier. Congratulations to Roger for losing so much weight.

The only problem with this before photo of Roger is that he was black. After Roger is white. So if I attend this 12-week weight loss class, will my skin color change too? This makes the advertisement and the program look foolish and very unprofessional. I began looking at the ad as if it were a joke and not so much a way to lose weight. This mess up could potentially lose the program more clients than weight.