CW: body dysmorphia, body checking

I saw an ad for a Halara product today. It came up on my facebook feed. The video begins with an objectively skinny girl, sticking out her tiny tummy in jean shorts that were slightly too small, apparently to show how average denim shorts are unflattering. Enter their product, comfy Halara shorts with a waistband that sits flat and won’t give you a muffin top.

Did she look bad in the “traditional” shorts? I really didn’t think so. She’s shown (her head cropped out, erasing her identity as an individual… she is “all of us”) puffing out her barely-there belly from the side, and jiggling it (as best as one can with a small tummy) back and forth in a front view.

If I’m being charitable, the idea behind the ad was, “Look at this skinny girl! Even she has a muffin top in those old school, un-evolved jean shorts!”

Looking at the comments on the post, though, I quickly saw that I wasn’t alone in my disappointment. One commenter said that they had been thinking of trying Halara, until seeing this ad. Honestly, same.

If the goal was to boost engagement on their posts, they clearly succeeded. Earning new customers? Doubtful, at least for those of us left with a bad taste in our mouths, reeking of our early-2000s panic that we’re not small enough, that teen angst that someone might notice our tummy in our jeans.

I thought we were past this. And although supposedly “thin is in” again, judging from the comments, we’re not buying it this time.