A photo published by St. Thomas University Nov. 1 on its Facebook page was taken down four days later, after the post sparked heated debate among students and alumni.
The post featured an underweight girl posing in a bikini, with the words “Healthy or Unhealthy?” stamped above her, accompanied by a Facebook “Like” thumbs-up. It was removed after comments on the photo claimed it promoted body shaming and unhealthy body ideals.
Comments on the photograph included criticism that it failed to promote critical thinking, in addition to the photo being provocative itself.
Jeffrey Carleton, communications director at St. Thomas, posted a public apology on the page Nov. 5, stating that the ad “did not get the reaction I had anticipated.” He said the photo was posted “as part of a larger social media campaign.”
“Our goal is to create discussions and target issues facing young people in particular,” Carleton stated on Facebook. “We want to ask young people to consider using their education to become informed about these issues in order to take the discussion deeper than the ‘liking,’ ‘sharing,’ or ‘hashtagging’ of social media.”
Carleton clarified in an interview the university’s original intent in posting the photograph.
“We’re trying to engage [students] in issues we know they’re concerned about,” he said. “[Social media] is not always conducive to real debate or discussion. You have to get more depth than a ‘like,’ more depth than a ‘hashtag.’”
The post was the first part of a larger campaign focusing on issues such as body image, marijuana, bullying, and other similar topics, Carleton said. The posts were meant to invite comments by “asking [students] to use their education to become more informed on these issues,” he said.
The university has since restarted the campaign, with one of the most recent posts focusing on cyber-bullying.
Carleton acknowledged the photograph had been posted without the context necessary to encourage the kind of discussion the university had in mind.
“The issue that we chose was clearly too stark and it became a debate,” he said.
The university’s student union said in an email they were aware of the “events” provoked by the advertisement.
“However, no students approached us with their concerns about the matter and the university quickly dealt with the issue internally,” it said. “Unfortunately, we have no further comment on the issue.”
Hannah Gray, a recent graduate of St. Thomas, said she was shocked when she first saw the image on Facebook. She said it had already been posted for three or four days, and decided to join in the discussion under the photo’s comments section.
“I couldn’t believe that a communications department would do something like that. It’s objectifying,” Gray said. “They’re not replacing the conversation with questions of health, just disguising it under the premise of critical thinking.”
Gray said by asking the public if the body, rather than the person, appears healthy or unhealthy, it applies unfair moral labels. She said the university’s apology is not enough and dismissed Carleton’s explanation regarding a lack of proper context surrounding the photo.
“It’s not enough to say ‘I’m sorry, but you read it wrong,'” Gray said. “I don’t know in what context that image would be appropriate.”
Carleton said some still believe the photo should have been left up on the university’s Facebook page, but he felt the right decision was made to remove it.
“People are still talking about it,” Carleton said. “But I don’t think there’s any question that we were right in taking it down.”
