"No shaming please. No hate speech please."
That's what was written in the About section in a new "skinny acceptance" campaign called Project Harpoon before it was taken down from Facebook. The "campaign" photoshops images of plus-size women to make them look skinnier.
And yes, it's wildly problematic.
The creators of Project Harpoon describe the project on Instagram as a "movement" that asks people to support "being in shape and not feeding into obesity." The images include plus-size celebrities, models and everyday people.
It's fat-shaming at its ugliest.
Under the misguided mission that the project is showing everyone's "#ThinnerBeauty," Project Harpoon's now-defunct Facebook page described the campaign as being "dedicated to showing both sides of modern day beauty."
"In current societal fashion, a recent trending surge of ‘pro-obesity’ and ‘fat acceptance’ have paved the way for many people to renounce exercise and personal healthcare in general," the page's description read. "The page aims to only show that being skinny is okay as well! Skinny shaming is not okay."
(Quick reminder: No one is shaming skinny people by highlighting fat or plus-size bodies. We highlight fat and plus-size bodies because they're rarely represented in pop-culture and are stigmatized in real life.)
Before the campaign's account was removed from Instagram, the photoshopped posts included horrible captions beneath each image.
"From runaway freight train to fashion week NYC runway model, she's got some potential," one caption read beneath an image of a plus-size woman on a runway next to the same image photoshopped to make the woman look much slimmer.
Another Instagram post featured a photoshopped image of a plus-size woman wearing a feminist t-shirt, with the caption: "If you're a feminist, you should at least be in shape so you can attend the protests, not get stuck in the parking garage!"
The campaign was originally discovered on Facebook on Aug. 19, but it looks like both Facebook and Instagram have removed the project's page. Before being removed from the two platforms, Project Harpoon had over 2,500 Instagram followers and had gained momentum on Facebook after Facebook Newswire posted it on their page.
Instagram confirmed to The Huffington Post UK that Project Harpoon's account was disabled for violating their bullying policy.
After being kicked off the other two social media platforms, Project Harpoon moved to Twitter and Reddit to photoshop images of women (and a few men) without their permission.
The images include celebrities such as Melissa McCarthy, Rebel Wilson, Meghan Trainor and plus-size models Tess Holliday and Ashley Graham.
Many people have criticized the project as peak fat-shaming and blatantly offensive. Among those horrified by the project is plus-size model and outspoken body love activist Tess Holliday who's own images were wrongfully photoshopped.
"It's abominable that this [Facebook page] is using my image without permission to promote themselves," Holliday told E! News. "This kind of hit piece is exactly why I started #EffYourBeautyStandards. I am asking my followers to boycott this [page] and any others like it. Loving yourself is the most powerful message we all need to stand behind."
We couldn't agree more.
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