Pinterest bans weight-loss ads: Body acceptance is in, BMI is out
CBSN
Pinterest said it is banning all weight-loss ads from its platform starting July 1, describing itself as the first major social media service to do so. The company said the new policy "embraces body acceptance" at a delicate time for many people as they emerge from the pandemic.
The company noted the policy is an expansion of its guidelines that had previously banned body-shaming and dangerous weight-loss products. The new ban goes several steps beyond that by prohibiting any weight-loss language or imagery, testimonials about weight loss and references to body mass index, or BMI, among other content. The decision comes amid a broader body-positivity movement that is aimed at accepting people of all sizes. But Pinterest also noted that its ban on weight-loss ads comes as the U.S. emerges from the pandemic, and that there has been a "steep rise in unhealthy eating habits and eating disorders in young people since the COVID-19 pandemic started last year."Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.