"This Is Me"? Not Quite: How Diet Culture Co-Opts Self-Acceptance to Fuel a $90 Billion Industry
TW/CW: intentional weight loss, diet culture, GLP-1s
“Look out ‘cause here I come, and I’m marching on to the beat I drum, I’m not scared to be seen, I make no apologies, this is me.”
I used to love this song. Now, I associate it with weight loss and diet culture.
“This is Me” from the movie The Greatest Showman is featured in a variety of commercials that are coming up this time of year. What bothers me most is that this song — with messages of strength and self-acceptance — is utilized to market GLP-1 medications to communities susceptible to false messaging like “losing weight brings self-acceptance.” We in the eating disorder space know that message is unequivocally untrue, but it’s an alluring idea to many — that changing one thing (our bodies) could fix everything.
We live in a space where diet culture and the promotion of weight loss is inescapable. We see it on television, social media, and really every other public platform. We see the diet industry — a multi-billion dollar industry — specifically targeting young people.
I developed my eating disorder at age 14, and I always thought that societal expectations, diet culture, and the media had nothing to do with it. I saw my eating disorder as a personal flaw; evidence that I was a bad person. It couldn’t have anything to do with the messaging that I was receiving.
But let’s be real: how could it not?
None of us exist in a bubble, and we are always taking in information - whether we realize it or not. We see the promotion of diet culture in both subtle and in more direct ways. It would be impossible not to be affected by diet culture in some way. It took me a long time to realize this — to even fathom that my eating disorder was caused by anything other than my own failure.
However, eating disorders and diet culture are the cumulative result of intentional, racist systems that were created - not innate.
We know this because beauty standards and indicators of health have changed throughout history. These days, we are told that to be Fat is to be unhealthy, which is then equated to someone’s worth and, therefore, the respect they deserve.
This is a huge lie fed to us by the diet industry. The message is that we can be happy and healthy if we could just “lose that stubborn fat.” Or that weight loss will solve all our problems. Diet culture thrives on people believing this falsehood.
As long as people hold this belief, the diet industry can continue to swindle people and sell their products. After all, if diets worked, why do we need so many weight loss regimens and products? Why are we always chasing the next big thing in weight loss? Remember, the diet industry is a business, and its goal is to make money. If people didn’t believe in diet culture and Fatphobia, the business would fall apart.
Large social media conglomerates report profiting at least $228 million per year from “pro-eating disorder” content. But that number doesn’t include the cost (and profit) of promoting weight loss. As of 2023, the weight loss industry in the United States alone grew to $90 billion, with approximately $12 billion coming from prescription weight loss drugs (more than double that of 2022).
These industries are sending a message with their dollars: money comes before the wellbeing of our youth.
Unfortunately, this messaging is spreading: at least one in five children worldwide report disordered eating.
That number is staggering — partially because we know that people who report these experiences are only a fraction of the people who actually experience them.
The mental health crisis is pervasive. Diet culture, weight loss prescriptions, and eating disorders may seem trivial to many, but we know the truth. Eating disorders are on the rise; they impact everyone, but especially communities who have experienced compounded oppression.
Our future is at risk. More than that, our present is, too. Beyond our work at Project HEAL, this is a message that you are not alone. We see what is happening, and we’re ready to continue the work. Will you join us?
