During tonight’s episode of The Gruen Transfer host Wil Anderson said that they were unable to air one of the ads they had hoped to air due to the ABC not giving them the green light.

Each week Gruen gives a challenge to an ad agency as part of a segment they call “The Pitch”, where they have to take something that is unusual or unpalatable and make it appealing via TV advertisement.
“The Pitch” for this episode was for ad agencies to come up with ads to “End Shape Discrimination” – which is to say end the stigma associated with being overweight.

One of the ads went to air and Wil directed interested people to a special website if they wanted to see the ad that they weren’t able to air, along with a 15 minute panel discussion on the issues the ad addresses.

It’s not, strictly speaking, Biggest Loser related, but as it deals with some associated issues I thought it might be of interest to anyone still reading this dinky little blog.

Before I provide you with the link I will warn you that the advertisement could be considered offensive. It contains a couple of jokes that are clearly discriminatory in nature and, well, quite repugnant in a sense.
But it is for a good cause and highlights an interesting dichotomy, where nobody much thinks of telling jokes about fat people when they’d hesitate to tell a joke about black people.

Now, if you promise not to come back crying to me the URL for the website is www.antiprejudicead.net

Do you think the ad agency went too far? Did it make you reconsider your own prejudices? I know I have some weighty thoughts rolling around in my head right now.