Gold’s Gym Is Trying To Apologize For This Body-Shaming Post

UPDATE: Gold's Gym has now issued an official apology for the ad, calling it "insensitive," and nothing that the company has worked quickly with Facebook to have the sub-franchisee Gold's Gym Dreamland Facebook page removed — the company also plans to terminate Gold's Gym Dreamland's sub-franchise agreement.

You would think that by 2016, we would have grown out of outdated terms like "pear-shaped." Note: Your body is not a fruit. However, Gold's Gym apparently just can't resist a play on words, or, while it's at it, a hefty dose of sexism and body-shaming. A post on the Facebook page for the Gold's Gym Dreamland location, based in Egypt, read, "This is no shape for a girl" — the shape being, of course, that of the pear that is referenced in the photo.

It didn't take long for Facebook users to notice this straight-up body-shaming in an official gym ad, and the post soon went viral — but not for the reasons Gold's Gym had hoped. "Actually, it is," one user commented. "Now give me one good reason why I should go to a gym that bullies girls, instead of gyms that actually encourage me to workout." "Well I WAS a member of Gold's but looks like I need to find a gym that doesn't body shame and degrade women for their appearance," another wrote. Needless to say, Gold's noticed the backlash and attempted to walk back on the ad by editing the original post with an apology and copying and pasting said apology into the comments of the post. The apology read, oddly: "[O]ur apology, this post was not meant to offend anyone, and not against god's creation, or any type of women's body. It was meant to refer to a Healthy less fats body [sic], NOT THE ACTUAL 'shape' STRUCTURE OF THE BODY. So [a]gain our Apology. for all the women out there."

Meanwhile, the official Gold's Gym Twitter has attempted to distance itself from the post.

The Gold's Gym Dreamland's tone-deaf attempt to rectify the situation also rightfully drew further ire. As one Facebook user so aptly put it, "Bullshit. Pear shape isn't unhealthy or unfit. It's simply a shape. Width of hips, width of shoulders, etc. If you're going to apologize, at least own it." And she's right — a person's body shape or the way someone's body looks has very little to do with how healthy or unhealthy they actually are. So, the old adage applies: If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all.