Skinny Pepsi

So Diet Pepsi is releasing a new can that is taller and skinnier than the old one. I saw it on the End Fat Talk page, which was cranky about it promoting a thin-ideal. So I read the afore-linked-to release about the can, and well, I have to agree with the Fat Talk people... Pepsi talks about supporting "beautiful, confident women" with the new can, but then also announces it at Fashion Week and teams up with fashion and beauty product companies (who also promote a thin ideal in order to sell products). If you felt good about the way you looked and were truly confident, you wouldn't need to buy so many beauty products. The thin-ideal works for them.

I know a lot of people who drink diet soda because (a) they like them and/or (b) they struggle with weight. That's fine, and I'm not bashing the idea of diet soda generally. I wouldn't be complaining if they had updated the shape of their can purely for a change in design and to make it look interesting and novel - to draw attention to it. But to say that it's in support of beautiful, confident women and then promote the new can alongside the beauty industry...they may as well just say "We want you to think you're fat so that you'll drink our diet soda. And we don't really care if it means you'll be unhappy and think poorly about yourself and may actually mean that you WON'T feel beautiful or confident. At least then you'll buy our soda...cause you'll think it will help."

The release also says that the new can design is the "perfect complement to today's most stylish looks." How does a can complement an outfit? Really?

This sort of feels like this pretzel ad I saw a few months ago stating "You can never be too thin." Um, Pretzel Crisps, let me invite you to any eating disorder inpatient unit. Turns out you CAN be too thin...

I work in the eating disorder field. I ALSO work in the obesity field. We need to strike a balance here, folks, or the world is gonna be one messed up place.