Pinterest bans all weight loss ads

From “1^Is By July 2021, Pintext will update its advertising policies to ban all ads containing text or images related to weight loss, ”the platform said, citing 475 million active users worldwide each month.

“Advertisements promoting healthy habits and lifestyle or fitness products and services are only allowed as long as they focus on weight loss,” she says.

Any text, image or evidence on weight loss, food products and products “wearing or applying to the skin that is said to allow weight loss” is prohibited from the social network.

Any content that is “ideal or rejects some syntax” and any reference to “Body Mass Index (BMI) or similar indicators” are also prohibited.

This is “a major step in prioritizing the mental and physical health of our customers. We want them to feel free to stay on Pinterest and celebrate the diversity of bodies regardless of shape or size, ”said Sarah Bromma, Pinterest’s Chief Learning Officer.

The National Eating Disorders Association, which is associated with this change in advertising policy, is hopeful that the initiative “encourages other organizations and businesses to think about the dangers posed by certain advertising messages.” That fact must be taken into account. ”

Pinterest points out that this decision is part of a policy that has already begun in terms of advertising, with the social network banning “body shaming” for a long time and publications that apologize for being overweight or too serious.

Any search for keywords related to eating disorders is “automatically blocked, referring the user to the organization that helps them.”

Finally, each week the social network highlights “content from creators around the world” who rediscover our relationship with the body by “conveying positive themes such as body neutrality and self-acceptance”.