Please Stop Saying, ‘Finally, Real People in Commercials!’ Here’s Why…

Tracy wrote a great blog about Target's new commercial. It's fun, has a great song in the background, and features all kinds of people. It's a big enough deal, people are talking about it and praising it all over the place. But, there's one problem...

I've seen a ton of Facebook posts loving on the commercial. It's so inclusive... but then, someone goes and spoils the positive love and says something like, "Nice to see them finally showing real people in commercials!"

I totally get what they mean. They haven't seen "themselves" in commercials. Same here. I used to be super thin, and now I am definitely overweight, and I almost never see myself on TV unless the guy is a dough-headed husband to a "hot wife."

Please, though, think about it for a second. The models we see are real people. No matter their weight and no matter their ability. No matter their shape and no matter their abilities.

All. Real. People.

It's not a contest. All of us are perfect, right out of the box. I really do know just how hard it can be to love yourself. How, many times, we can feel put down or minimized.

For me, it's enough to say, "This is awesome!" or "I love seeing people like me!" Because it is, and I do!

I didn't always feel this way, but my friends that were told, "I wish I could be skinny like you!" weren't taking it as a compliment. They weren't happy with their bodies, either. Once, I heard one go off...

"I wish I could be skinny like you..." he said.

"I wish I could be fat, like you." she said.

You know what? It hurt his feelings.

I did everything I could to get out of the mindset saying, "The way you look matters." It took a long time, because it's part of how we interact with each other. I still do it sometimes, but once I saw how people feel about body talk, I couldn't unsee it.