Gym ad sparks outrage in UK: ‘Be ugly’

An ad for a gym calling people “fat and ugly” sparked outrage among residents of Denton, Manchester, UK.

PT Factory Gym came up with a controversial message: when shown a generic image of a woman, Fatphobic shouted, “Tired of being fat and ugly? Get ugly now!”

To encourage people to join the gym in 2023, the location says it will be open “24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” The painting was covered in neon yellow paint, while someone else painted it in black, saying, “It’s mentally ill.”

On the gym’s Instagram, there’s a post in which owner Ollie Lawrence is shocked to see what he justifies as “carefree humor.”

“Look what we have in 2022. I can’t post a single joke anymore to make people laugh in these trying times. Out of hundreds of messages praising us for putting a smile on someone’s face! Unfortunately someone decided to do this. I’ve already called the police and evidence has been sent.

According to The Sun newspaper, Ollie explained that he did not intend to offend anyone. “I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t our intention to offend anyone. We’ve talked to a lot of people before and 99% of them saw what a joke was.”

He said the academy received “thousands” of comments about how “brilliant” the idea was, and only “eight or nine” complaints.