Dear Apple: You Can Be Too Thin!

At home earlier this week, my heart sank as Apple's new ad for its latest model of computers flashed in front of me from the company's homepage. At first glance, the ad looked like Apple's typical clean cut ad with five of Apple's new iMac computer monitors filling the ad. Then, I read the jingle above them: "The new iMac. You can't be too thin. Or too powerful."

This ad campaign hit a little too close to home. I first heard about the ad at a local support group I helped to start for women with eating disorders. I developed bulimia as a sophomore in college several years ago just before my 21st birthday. Recovery was long and difficult. There were hours spent crying. I'd binge only to purge. I'd battle media messages that told I wasn't thin enough. The disorder took over my life. Bulimia left little room for me to maintain friendships. I spent countless hours teaching myself to ignore the messages that Madison Avenue creates. With the help of my family, my faith and my friends, I gave up the unhealthy behaviors of my eating disorder three years ago. Today, I write a blog about eating disorders and other issues related to women to help others through their struggle with societal images of beauty. I don't want other women or girls to hate their bodies. I want the media and our society to affirm all expressions of beauty, not just those that are "thin."

Despite my progress, I'm still healing. At our support group meeting earlier this week, we had talked about the marketing messages so many of us see and hear, telling us that thin is beautiful. Toward the end of the discussion, a friend had turned to me and asked, "Have you seen the new Apple ad? It's horrible."

When I saw the ad later that night, I was shocked. While still a young professional in the world of public relations and marketing, I couldn't believe the insensitivity with which Apple put out this ad campaign. Ads like Apple's hit a nerve for all of us who struggle with thoughts that we're not skinny enough. In the blogosphere, Apple is getting its hits. On one blog, a writer said, "They didn't need to go there." A reader responded, "This one was stupid. I hope whichever marketing genius came up with it got a slap." "Lori" weighed into the debate, calling the ad, "very disappointing," and hoping the company would see the "multidimensional badness of the slogan and change it."

Another blogger groused about the "revolting tagline" of the ad, saying, "News flash to Steve Jobs and his marketing department: You sure as hell can be too thin. Your hair can fall out. You can be cold all the time. Your heart can slow down. You can become psychotic on the subject of food. In fact, you can be possessed by an illness so powerful that it actually causes you to violate the most basic human instinct: self-preservation." On a lighter note, some folks are taking digs at Apple for not being "PC."

I've repeated the words from the ad again to myself like a mantra: "You can't be too thin. Or too powerful." Suddenly all the voices I'd fought to silence came rushing back into my mind: Be thin. You're not pretty enough. Don't eat that. Look like her. Fat is lazy. Thin equals happiness. Over the last few days, "You can't be too thin. Or too powerful," has played over and over again in my head. To some, the ad slogan may seem like a silly jingle to sell computers. To others, we may just be hypersensitive. But to most young girls and women it's a phrase we hear far too often, defining our worth. It is a declarative statement that reinforces the self-hate we often feel toward our own bodies.

The truth is you can be too thin. One in ten anorexia cases ends in death, says the American Psychology Association. According to the National Institutes of Mental Health, one in 20 women suffers from eating disorders, leading to health complications. What kind of message are we sending our new generation with an ad campaign like Apple's? What are we telling our girls? We're sending a message associating thin with power.

This kind of socially irresponsible marketing needs to end. No matter what Apple tries to tell us, "thin" is not what defines our worth. "Thin" is not what makes us "powerful." With its reputation as a socially conscious corporation on the line, Apple, which didn't return calls seeking comment, needs to pull this ad campaign immediately. And, as an apology to all women and girls who struggle daily to have a positive body image, Apple should weigh in with a socially conscious mea culpa: donate new iMacs to the National Association for Eating Disorders.