A string of adverts promoting self-love and fat acceptance have been doing the rounds. What started out as a couple of adverts portraying a few feel-good stories has now spread like wildfire, with multiple companies wading in on the craze to reap the benefits and fatten their pockets.

The idea of self-love is a good, if somewhat weird, concept. However, when you have channels spoon-feeding misleading information it becomes a serious problem.

A 2015 report by the World Health Organisation shows that Malta has the highest overweight and obesity rates in the EU. In a Daily Mail article titled ‘Britain’s obesity death rate’, James Chapman points out that one in 11 deaths in the UK are linked to fatness, while in the EU 400,000 deaths are directly linked to excess weight.

According to California surgeon Warren Peters, obesity kills over 300,000 Americans annually. In spite of statistics and numerous warnings from health professionals, a flood of ‘fat acceptance’ messages have been published on the internet glorifying obesity.

Some videos include morbidly obese people shattering weight scales claiming that weight scales are not an effective tool to measure body fat levels, or urging viewers to eat multiple ice-creams under the facetious claim that nothing should be consumed in moderation.

Instead of these messages and videos being put under fire for spreading harmful information, these campaigns are being endorsed by the media as if they were gospel truth.

A surge of companies like ‘Buzzfeed’, ‘I Heart My Body’ and other fat acceptance channels are going on record telling people that it’s OK to be obese. And in doing so, influencing viewers into a make-believe loop that there is nothing wrong with being overweight.

If people still want to be overweight, that’s their choice, but being swayed by deceptive information is not fair

Being overweight leads to a number of ailments such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke and gall bladder disease. Since obesity is a serious cause for concern, shouldn’t it be considered inhumane to allow promotions to publish fat acceptance videos, potentially leading viewers to an early grave?

This fat acceptance campaign is even being put to shame by people like Steven Jay Williams (aka Boogie2988), a self-proclaimed obese You Tuber who is encouraging viewers to lose weight so as not to be in the same difficult predicament he is in: “You owe it to yourself and everyone who loves you, to do everything you can to be as healthy as possible, and that includes losing weight.”

However, a clear distinction must be made between slightly chubby yet healthy models and the ‘Fat Acceptance Movement’. These sort of models should be encouraged because they are portraying a body that does not adhere to the traditional slim figure, while still being healthy. On the other hand, the Fat Acceptance Movement only provokes people to go on living a damaging lifestyle.

There are positives from this fat acceptance campaign – one being that it provides a safety net for overweight people. However, just because you have a safe haven does not mean you’ve solved the problem. It just means you are ignoring it.

I do understand that there are people facing depression because of body image issues, who find solace in this campaign, and that’s great. But aren’t we perhaps leading these individuals deeper down the rabbit hole with such campaigns? Are we not considering the possibility that these people will face harsher consequences if a doctor forces them to lose weight against the clock or they might face the risk of amputations or worse? Within this scenario it’s undeniably a tug of war between mental and physical health, but why should physical health always bear the brunt of the attack?

The aim of this article isn’t to encourage or condone bullying or fat-shaming. All fat-shaming does is force someone to feel bad, which may result in them turning to comfort food, thus compounding their predicament. We shouldn’t even take beauty into consideration because beauty is a social construct with a shelf-life.

Perhaps we should try to minimise these messages and let people make well-informed decisions regarding their size. If people still want to be overweight, that’s their choice, but being swayed by deceptive information is not fair.

Neil Attard is a 21-year-old University of Malta student currently reading for a degree in Communication Studies with Psychology.

Kristina Chetcuti will not be writing this week.