If like us, you’re fed up with weight loss adverts, for skinny teas or diet plans, popping up on your Instagram feed, you can now make them disappear.
Diet adverts are harmful, not just to our bodies, but to our mental health too – and the social media giant has finally taken steps to help us hide them on our feed.
The new setting came after campaigning from body-positive influencer Katie Bundenberg – who launched a change.org petition last year – urging Instagram to let us filter out these harmful adverts.
She argued that the setting already existed for ‘other potentially triggering topics, such as alcohol and parenting, and should be extended to weight loss.’
She went on to say that the setting would ‘make Instagram a safer, and therefore a more inclusive, place for those with a history of disordered eating and/or body image issues.’
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Actress Jamelia Jamil, who has admitted to suffering from anorexia, has also been behind the campaign, alongside her ‘I Weigh,’ Instagram account – which aims to shine a light on body positivity.
In the past, Jameela Jamil also revealed that her parent’s’ fat-phobic’ attitude was ‘not helpful’ when she was dealing with anorexia in her teens.
‘Jutting hip bones were seen as a sign of peak brilliance both at home and at school,’ the Good Place star said in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine. ‘It didn’t matter that I did well academically or was a good swimmer. All I thought was important about me was that my jeans hung off my hip bones.’
Katie, who posted about the change on her Instagram page also said, ‘It’s no secret that the aim of a weight loss ad is to make you feel inadequate in your body so that you are persuaded to pay the company large amounts of money to help you lose weight. To some, these ads may be harmless and they can scroll on but for some these ads are triggering and dangerous.’
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
How to filter out weight loss ads on Instagram
Ready to never see an advert for a skinny tea or a fad diet ever again? Here’s how to change your filters:
Click the ‘settings’ tab on your Instagram profile page, then scroll down to the feature labelled ‘ads’, then click on ‘ad topics’. In the search bar type in ‘weight loss’ or ‘body weight control’, then click ‘see list’.
This will then remove any ads around fad diets or weight loss appearing on your feed. Happy healthy scrolling!
