Every beauty company in the world, every gym, every vitamin add in this world is likely to feature two images. On the left, we can see how a person looked like before they discovered this gym or that diet; on the right, we see the improved version of that person – often wearing the same outfit they wore in the first image. No matter what companies tell us, those images were not taken weeks or months apart, not even days apart – but just less than a minute apart. That’s what a new hashtag created by Instagram users is trying to expose. Witness the #30secondbeforeandafter trend.
Why did all this started? Of course, because of summer. The nearer summertime is, the more likely it is to see companies advertise slim bodies. People get kind of obsessed with having a summer body. Then companies start advertising their wonderful products, that can make you go from chubby to skinny in the blink of an eye.
A 30-second weigh loss or a visual trick?Someone had to yell stop, and that someone was Conner Rensch (@crensch), a model known for having lost more than 120 pounds and proudly showing her stretch marks. She has always advocated self-esteem and has always insisted on the importance of knowing that nobody’s life is as perfect as their social networks show. The piece of advice she’s been giving since she decided to change her lifestyle is “Don’t try and imitate everything you see on a screen.” It is neither healthy nor recommendable.
What is the secret, then, of those amazing changes in 30 seconds? One picture shows someone with a “bad posture, sticking stomach out, pushing legs together.” Another one depicts them “standing up straight, flexing stomach, pushing thighs apart.” That’s all.
What all this is trying to tell people are “Don’t be fooled by this kind of advertisement.” It’s not healthy.
