SkinnyTok (Skinny TikTok) and ED (eating disorder) media is experiencing a rise in popularity as influencers are promoting getting on Ozempic to lose weight, calorie counting, and a dangerous diet culture that focuses on looking skinny over being fully nourished. This type of content isn’t new, as ED media has been popular since the beginning of the internet and even before then.
Diet culture and an obsession with being skinny always follows a pandemic, as conservatism grows and people begin to focus on themselves after having to consider the good of the world. This pandemic isn’t yielding different results, especially since following the pandemic which is still a major issue in North America, the US is headed towards a recession and some would say, a depression.
Now, commercials for cereal are advertising that cereal can be a breakfast or dinner food, saying it’s perfectly normal to feed to your families for dinner. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with eating cereal or any other breakfast food for dinner, but the context of the commercial is what’s drawing people’s attention as it hints that people should do their best to stretch what food they have to make it last. Cue the SkinnyTok content. Not only does being skinny matter to a lot of people, influencers can now get away with promoting diet culture because it can help save on food costs. Prices of groceries are rising as sizes are dropping due to what the internet is calling “shrinkflation,” and those obsessed with diet culture have a reason other than wanting to be skinny to promote that culture.
Hopefully, this fad will pass in due time as the country works through the recession and depression on the horizon. Until then, it’s important to remember that looking a certain way is never worth compromising your mental and physical health and a healthy body and brain will take you much further in life than a slim figure and malnourishment.
