This French Collective Fights Fatphobia with the Weight of Words

For World's Obesity Day on March 4th, the French Obese National Associations Collective (CNAO) worked with ad agency BETC Paris to create a pro bono campaign meant to raise awareness around a severe health issue: obesity and fatphobia. Fatphobia is getting stronger and affects people with health issues which leads furthermore to their exclusion.

Fatphobia: How severe is it?

In France, almost half of the adult population is considered overweight or obese. 47.3% of French adult people are overweight or obese and 17% are considered obese. Despite how widespread the affliction is, people suffering from obesity face hostility and discrimination. Whether it happens in public, at school, in the workplace, in the medical world, in the media, within their families, or even on social media. Fatphobia becomes another issue that people suffering from obesity have to deal with.

These figures demonstrate that discrimination towards larger bodies is constant and commonplace. 23% of people suffering from obesity and 41% of people suffering from severe obesity are victims of discrimination.

Fatphobia: the weight of the words

Mercedes Erra, president and founder of BETC Group, says, "Fighting fatphobia is as much an ethical challenge than a public health one. At the same time, that society is becoming more inclusive, fatphobia lingers. It is becoming a violent phenomenon that doesn't seem to decrease. Our agency is proud to support this cause that follows our strong commitment towards fighting against all discriminations."

The effects of fatphobia are multiple: loss of self-esteem, increased risk of depression, social isolation, youth deschooling, increased risk of eating disorders, avoidance of medical treatments, late treatment for severe diseases. Fatphobia - especially within the medical world - can be an obstacle when treating people suffering from obesity, which is detrimental as obesity is a chronic disease that can be treated.

BETC Paris has conceived for the French Obese National Associations Collective an ad campaign that aims to raise awareness around this type of widespread and commonplace discrimination. The creative idea calls out what is the most painful for people suffering from obesity: the weight of words, the stares from others, that can cause invisible yet durable wounds, as damaging as the disease itself. With the line "The heaviest thing I carry is the weight of your words", the campaign challenges our collective responsibility in the rejection and isolation of people suffering from obesity and calls for a change of behaviour. 

Words getting more powerful through clever use of graphic design

The campaign comes to life with the help of three incredible models, shot by Pascal Boudet. The three visuals show bodies, faces, and words of those that society often leaves out of the frame. The ad campaign reinstates the right to everybody to have a place in the public space and calls out for more general kindness.

Anne-Sophie Joly, president of the Obese National Associations Collective, adds, "This campaign is instrumental to help change the mind of the people over this disease that gets stigmatised and is not fully recognised as such in France and which represents a major health issue globally."

The campaign will be broadcasted from March 4th to 10th on outdoor billboards and online posters. The campaign was created with voluntary work from the teams at BETC Paris and production company General Pop.