Boycott REDBOOK Magazine - Obesity Is Not Fashion

Redbook Magazine Boycott Called by Anti-Obesity Advocate MeMe Roth

-- Hearst’s Redbook and Editor-in-Chief Stacy Morrison Called “Reckless in Age of Obesity” --

New York, NY – March 6, 2006 – In response to Redbook Magazine’s March 2006 Issue and cover story, “We Love Your Body From Size 2 to 20,” anti-obesity advocate MeMe Roth calls for a boycott of the magazine citing its piece as “reckless in the age of obesity.”

March’s issue, with rocker Sheryl Crow on the cover, features a seven-page spread of women of varying sizes, many of whom are Redbook employees. Half the women are visibly overweight and some “plus sized.” Height and Body Mass Index (BMI) are excluded.

In her opening letter, editor-in-chief Stacy Morrison bemoans the fact that many of her favorite fashions are not made larger than size 12, while also heralding that she is “quite proud” to be a size 14. Later within the article, it is pointed out the average American woman is a size 14. Noticeably absent are facts that the average size 14 woman is 5’ 4”, overweight and at risk for heart disease, diabetes and cancer, as well as a host of additional medical complications.

“Redbook always has had a friendly tone, but don’t let that friendliness lull you into comfortable obesity,” said anti-obesity advocate MeMe Roth. “If you’re post MarieClaire and Glamour but not ready for AARP, I’d suggest reading Shape or SELF and getting your nutrition information from consumer watchdog, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI.) The CSPI takes no corporate or political money and publishes the exceptional Nutrition Action Healthletter. Until Redbook Magazine gets real about the risks associated with extra heft rather than parading health-compromised, plus-sized women in its pages, boycott it.”

Redbook Magazine, a Hearst Magazines title, reaches an audience of 2,350,000 each year, 90% women the average age of 44. The magazine’s tag line is “The Married Girl’s Guide to Life.”

“Redbook is a popular title and certainly knows its audience and advertisers. It’s quick to point out the “W” in plus-sized clothing stands for ‘woman.’ I wonder if that’s what Gloria Steinem and her contemporaries had in mind?” said MeMe Roth. “In Manhattan there’s a window etching that reads, ‘Life equals outrunning lesser versions of yourself.’ I couldn’t agree more. Name one men’s magazine that would parade its overweight employees? Redbook needs the courage to be honest with its readers and stop the patronizing articles. Instead of extolling the virtues of loving your body at any size, let’s ask women to love their bodies by keeping them healthy—and certainly offering advice that women become physically fit well before having children.”

Fast Facts:

• Women are at the center of the obesity epidemic. More than 90% of family food-buying decisions are made by women.
• 65% of U.S. adults are overweight or obese.
• A child of overweight parents is 15 times more likely to become overweight.
• Today’s generation of children is the first to be given a lesser life expectancy than their parents.
• This due to obesity related health complications: cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc.
• The Wedding Gown Challenge encourages women to focus on being fit for life—maintaining a healthy Body Mass Index (BMI)—well before, during and long after their wedding day.

About MeMe Roth
MeMe Roth is host and organizer of the Wedding Gown Challenge. As an anti-obesity advocate, Ms. Roth's efforts to eliminate junk food from schools, eradicate Secondhand Obesity™ (obesity handed down from one generation to the next, as well as from citizen to citizen), and to celebrate women committed to remaining fit have been featured on Fox's Your World with Neil Cavuto, CBS’s The Early Show, The New York Times, New York Magazine, The New York Post, Playboy Magazine, The New Jersey Star-Ledger, TimeOut New York, Big Apple Parent, WABCRadio, 106.7 LiteFM, Q104.3, Parents Magazine, Vicinity Magazine, Suburban Essex Magazine, School Administrator, American School Board Journal, The Winnipeg Sun, UPN Channel 9 News, News Target, Baristanet.com, The Item, WCRN Boston, BigFatBlog, Nippon TV, The Associated Press and Health Magazine. Ms. Roth’s agenda: Brain/Body/Libido. “Let’s re-tool the image of ‘mom’ and live a lifestyle free of excuses.”

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