Eff their beauty standards. After Chercez La Femme, an Australian feminist talk show, used a photo of Tess Holliday on their Facebook page for an event called Feminism and Fat, the social network rejected a request to use Holliday’s photo as an ad because of a violation.
“Your ad wasn’t approved because its image violates Facebook’s Ad Guidelines by promoting an idealized physical image,” a notification read, according to a screenshot the group posted on May 19. And after appealing the action, Jessamy Gleeson (who’s a producer for the show) received a similar explanation.
“The image being used in the ad doesn’t comply with our Health and Fitness Policy,” a message read. “The image depicts a body or body parts in an undesirable manner. Ads may not depict a state of health or body weight as being perfect or extremely undesirable.” Images including close-ups of muffin-tops, people pinching their fat, people with too-tight clothes are prohibited, but “an image of a relevant activity, such as running or riding a bike” is A-OK.
Chercez La Femme — which covers current affairs and pop culture from a feminist angle — naturally expressed their disgust and called for their fans to share the screenshot of Facebook’s insensitive message.
It looks like it worked: The image of Holliday was approved, and Facebook acknowledged their insensitive misstep. “Our team processes millions of advertising images each week, and in some instances we incorrectly prohibit ads,” a spokesperson for the site told Cosmopolitan.com. “This image does not violate our ad policies. We apologize for the error and have let the advertiser know we are approving their ad.”