Share

Gold’s Gym ends Egypt branch contract over body-shaming ad

Abigail Breslin vehemently spoke out against some ads that she says were “preying on people’s insecurities and perpetuating body image issues”.

Advertisement

Breslin’s posts received thousands of likes and garnered a public apology from the Gold’s Gym chain.

“Working out should be something you do for yourself, your health and your mind & body, not cuz (sic) a corporation declares your body shape isn’t what girls should look like”, she continued.

Apparently the folks over at this Gold’s Gym franchise think that sharing mean-spirited and body-shaming memes on Facebook is a totally reasonable way to bring in new customers – because they keep doing it.

Gold’s Gym Dreamland, located in Giza, shared a photo of a pear, with a caption that left an offensive message to women everywhere: “This is no shape for a girl”.

People lashed out against the company, Gold’s Gym Dreamland, on Twitter, calling the ad “offensive” and “the worst”.

Some were quick to respond to the ad, calling it out for using a pear to body-shame women-specifically pear-shaped women. The second post has thousands of shares, and comments stating that the gym’s post was body shaming women. She also pointed out that the ad specifically targeted women. “Now give me one good reason why I should go to a gym that bullies girls, instead of gyms that actually encourage me to workout”.

The post was ultimately deleted, and the sub-franchise issued an apology on Facebook.

The US-based chain Gold’s Gym issued its own statement on Facebook, and announced it is in the process of terminating its relationship with the sub-franchise.

Advertisement

Gold’s Gym said it was reviewing internal procedures for branches both in the USA and overseas “so that nothing like this ever happens again”. Even though they were created and posted without our knowledge, they were associated with our logo and there’s no excuse for that’. We are now reviewing our internal procedures for how both domestic and global franchisees create and share social media posts so that nothing like this ever happens again.

This Gold's Gym Franchise's Facebook Page Is a Body-Shaming Nightmare