Gold’s Gym apologizes for post that body-shamed ‘curvy’ women
After a horribly insensitive body-shaming post on Gold's Gym Dreamland Facebook page, Gold's Gym issued an apology and removed the sub-franchise's Facebook page...
After a horribly insensitive body-shaming post on Gold’s Gym Dreamland Facebook page, Gold’s Gym issued an apology and removed the sub-franchise’s Facebook page.
The original ad included an image of a pear as well as the phrase “this is no shape for a girl.”
After the massive backlash over the sexism and body-shaming, Gold’s Gym issued an apology on their own Facebook page that read in part:
Words cannot express how shocked and appalled we were by the recent posts of Gold’s Gym Dreamland, a sub-franchise in Cairo, Egypt. Not only were they offensive and disgusting, they go against everything we believe in and stand for. For years we have been dedicated to helping people feel empowered by fitness, not intimidated or ashamed by it. We believe that strength comes in many forms…be it physical, mental or emotional…and that our purpose (and rallying cry) is to help people Know Their Own Strength.
Upon learning of this sub-franchisee’s insensitive posts, we immediately took action by working with Facebook to have their page removed. Also, after consultation with our master franchise in Gold’s Gym Egypt, we are in the process of expediting the termination of this sub-franchisee’s agreement. This incident only confirms that Gold’s Gym Dreamland does not uphold the values and inclusiveness that Gold’s Gym promotes throughout our global network.
With all of this said, we sincerely apologize for these posts. Even though they were created and posted without our knowledge, they were associated with our logo and there’s no excuse for that. We are currently reviewing our internal procedures for how both domestic and international franchisees create and share social media posts so that nothing like this ever happens again.
