An outraged gym owner has slammed Facebook for banning his transformation video of his devoted clients because the content may offend people.
Mark Mathie, who runs Wikedbodz gym at Surfers Paradise in Queensland, shared the ‘before-and-after’ snaps of his participants in a video slide to show their remarkable results following a 12-week challenge.
But the social media giant issued a warning to Mr Mathie after blocking his paid advertisement because it contains pictures that ‘excessively’ focuses on bodies.
‘This ad isn’t running because it uses images that excessively focus on a person’s body or any given body part (e.g. focusing on abs or belly fat,’ Facebook said.
‘This can make users feel bad about themselves, and goes against our core value of fostering a positive global community… What to do next: Avoid images with close-ups of specific body parts of before-and-after photos.’
Mr Mathie claimed he was furious with the ‘politically correct’ response from Facebook because ‘now we can’t show any type of healthy promotion in case we offend overweight, unhealthy people’.
An outraged gym owner has slammed Facebook for banning his transformation video of his devoted clients because the content may offend people
The social media giant issued a warning to Mr Mathie after blocking his paid advertisement because it contains pictures that ‘excessively’ focuses on bodies
A Facebook Australia spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘We have Community Standards that outline what is and isn’t allowed on Facebook.
‘However, when it comes to ads on Facebook, we have a higher set of standards for what content can be included in an ad. Our Advertising Policies are more restrictive because they take paid distribution. These policies clearly state that ads must not contain “before-and-after” images or create negative self-perception by focusing on someone’s personal attributes.’
In his video posted on Facebook, Mr Mathie lashed out at the social media chain.
‘For 21 years, I’ve been trying to promote wellness. All I ever want to do is to promote wellness for someone to be the best version of themselves,’ he said.
‘What I want to try and get out it is if one person sees the video and goes “look at the results these people have achieved, I can do that myself,” if they get the confidence to come in and change their life, then I’m happy.’
Mark Mathie (pictured speaking to 9News), shared the ‘before-and-after’ snaps of his participants in a video slide after a 12-week challenge to show their remarkable results
The gym owner created an inspiring video showing the incredible transformation by his clients
Mr Mathie claimed Facebook took his post down ‘because it concentrated on the abdominal area too much and showed some belly fat, therefore it may make some viewers uncomfortable.
‘Are you f**king serious? Nothing has grinded my gears more,’ he said.
‘So we don’t offend fat people, because you showed people who had fat that were getting skinny? Has the world come to that, where does it end?
‘This day and age has gone f**king crazy. When do we stop offending people?’
Mr Mathie questioned what made social media influencers who put edited pictures of their transformation any different from ‘real’ people documenting ‘raw’ images.
‘We’ve got male and female influencers who Photoshop to the f**king hilt, they don’t even look like that themselves, and we’ve got teenage kids trying to aspire to look like someone who doesn’t even look like that – but that’s completely fine,’ he said.
But the owner was shocked when Facebook decided to take down his paid ad amid fears it could ‘make users feel bad about themselves’
Mr Mathie said he no longer feels he could post raw inspirational pictures of his clients’ incredible workout results without offending anyone
‘Not showing raw pictures, no Photoshop, no bulls**t photos, raw photos of someone that bettered their life from A to B to try and convince people “you can do that too”.
‘But you can’t do that because you might offend some fat person. But no problems “you go and Photoshop yourselves, sell your 10-week ab program that does absolutely f*** all.’
Mr Mathie said he no longer feels he could post raw inspirational pictures of his clients’ incredible workout results without offending anyone.
‘So where do we draw the line about offending people these days?’ he said.
‘It’s gone absolutely crazy to the point where you can’t put a “before” and “after” photo up of someone trying to better their lives because you’re going to offend someone.’