They are both wearing wedding bands, so it looks like they are already together. I'm with you--get them to Paris and skip the expensive surgery.

I wondered if it is an indirect reference -- one that fat people might be expected to 'get' -- to the inability of some people to fit in a single economy seat, and thus be forced by the airline to purchase a second seat or to buy an expensive first-class seat? This is, unfortunately, the reason that I'm not able to travel by air; as a 'starving student' I simply can't afford a second/business seat to fit my fat rear. :-(
Yeah, though, this commercial, like others for bariatric surgery, are appalling and nonsensical. You'd certainly be hard pressed to tell from the ad that the happy 'purchasers' are buying something that will most likely contribute to their deaths, either through complications or long-term severe malnutrition (of course, the same's true of cigarette ads).

Although I absolutely get what your saying, and in fact I have thought the same, there are size restrictions for flying. If you're too big for the seat, you're off the flight. My mother, who was 6'2 and about 400lbs. before her gastric bypass has told me that now that she's lost half her weight, she can actually think about flying somewhere and that before, there was no way she could ever consider it. I'm not saying that this woman couldn't take a boat over, (though I could see that as maybe being just as uncomfortable as pouring oneself into an airplane seat) but I do know from my obese family members that flying is a hassle, if not an impossibility.

@ Vidya Although there are serious risks, my mother has had great success with bypass surgery. So, though it isn't for everyone and though it has its complications (vasectomies have complications, but they're considered perfectly safe) it has literally saved my mothers life. Please don't bash these last resort alternatives until they're your last resort!

@ Vidya and Nelle-- I did consider that it might refer to airline travel and the practice of charging people for a second seat... and it could be... but it seems WAY too subtle for that (for me anyway).

I wonder, though, if the issue of airline seats was brought up more explicitly, the commercial would take too much of a "rights" tone that would distract too much from the advertisement itself. Maybe they had to be subtle about it?

Oh, see, now, I thought it was obvious: she won't fit under the Eiffel Tower unless she—

OK, sarcasm off. And yes, that has bugged me about this commercial from the first time I saw it.

Nelle, with respect, I don't think you can prevent people from talking about firmly established issues with bariatric surgery simply because your mother had a similar surgery. (The ad is for a lap band, your mother had gastric bypass.) Nor is mentioning the risks of this surgery simply mindless "bashing".

The issue, of course, is that this ad is asking people to pay tens of thousands of dollars, often out of their own pocket, by perpetuating the idea that fat people can't be good parents or enjoy love properly unless they're not fat. It doesn't address the risks of the surgery, either, except to say "talk to your doctor".

Personally, I think the ad is saying you just can't travel if you're fat. Not only is it the flight seat issue, but also the embarrassment issue. "The Fat American" is a cliche that I assume this ad is playing upon.

You know, I should probably add another way of viewing the Eiffel Tower part of the commercial. The flight-seat and the Fat-American-embarrassment issues are good ones, but my own reaction to the commercial, the reason I assumed she needed—er, sorry, "needed"—to lose weight before going to Paris, is that as a fat person she didn't deserve something so good/romantic. Which I supposed you touched on with "fat people can't...enjoy love properly", but I think it's worth stressing: my reading didn't involve the economic drawbacks at all, but rather the flat-out lack of self-worth.

Lance, I think you're also correct. Given the extent of internalized fat hatred (I mean, people are consenting to the surgical mutilation of healthy digestive organs! Yikes!), I think it's very easy for such an image/message to trip the internal 'I don't deserve happiness' voice that many/most fat people in this society live with.
(And, really, it still floors me that this surgery is even legal. In what other instances are surgeons legally permitted to damage healthy organ systems for social benefits? Particularly in light of the increasing evidence that the weightloss caused by this surgery is commonly only of a few years' duration, before the body adjusts its anatomy and/or metabolism to compensate.)

Both the airline seat size issue and the 'fat American' issue are real ones. It's too easy to make this about 'oh, fat people can't have normal lives.' They certainly can, but they also certainly will have to realize that they affect the lives of other people by being obese in at least some situations. I have been seated on a plane with a morbidly obese person in the past--smashed into a space smaller than should rationally be recognized as belonging to an individual seat holder by the sheer bulk of the person beside me (who slept through the whole trip. oblivious to how miserable a trip she'd made it for me). In France and other places where public transport actually exists, I imagine the prospects of being crushed into a tiny space in a metro seat by the overweight American tourist beside you are significant as well. Why, I wonder, is the first impulse of the American sociologist here that it's the obese person being 'oppressed,' when a much easier case can be made that overweight Americans exist in such great numbers precisely because we monopolize global foodstuffs, while millions elsewhere starve to death? Sure, that's not just the fault of obese people, it's the fault of larger economic structures too, but nobody is forcing people to shove enough ice cream down their throat to get to 400 lbs.

I agree that it's ridiculous that they imply she needs to lose weight before traveling. But, let's not go overboard in criticizing the procedure itself. All of the evidence I've seen indicates that this surgery has beneficial long-term effects. (And, that's why insurance companies frequently pay for it!)

This meta-study indicates that lap-banding is a safe and highly effective therapy:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18501315?ordinalpos=7&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

This study demonstrates that in the mildly obese, the procedure resulted in the partial or whole reveral of some of their medical condition: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17015204?ordinalpos=31&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

I'm an average weight and have traveled oversees before and those airline economy seats are small even for me.

I've seen this ad on TV before and I've wondered if the people would actually qualify for these surgeries. My roommate had gastric bypass which really helped her loose weight but she was larger than they are.

Arborvitae,

Of course, a little more digging on *both* those studies show that its from the journal "Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases", which is the official journal of, you guessed it, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

And even in better journals publishing meta-analysis, they're looking at a duration of followup in the realm of, if we're lucky, 2 years or so. That's just not sufficient followup time for an outcome that takes years to develop in the first place.

Aborvitae, the problem with these studies and analyses is that they are actually short-term, three years or less of review, usually. Longer term looks at weight loss surgery show that over five to ten years, people tend to re-gain the weight, the side effects become greater, and their medical conditions come back. With the addition of further risk from the device or procedure, such as the lap band ahering to the stomach wall, esophagul and dental destruction from reflux and vomiting, malnutrition and deficiencies, and increased risk of infections. The risks are not well publicized and patients are blamed for ill-effects.

I work as a nurse in an endoscopic surgery center. About a third of our lap band patients have the band removed within three years because the side effects are too great or the band simply did not cause them to lose weight, or both. Yes, that's right, some people do not lose weight at all. The reason a lot of the diseases like diabetes go into remission soon after surgery is because starvation will cause this remission, not the surgery or weight loss. Starvation will cause your serum lipids to go down at first, but then skyrocket from the physical and mental stress. The surgeons know this, but are in it mostly for the money which is sad.

Andy Mitchell, your comments are damn offensive. I bet the woman you were sat next to was "asleep" the whole flight because she was mortified that the seat was too small. Poor you, you were squashed for a while, she has to spend her whole life dealing with people who think she's an awful human being just because of her size. Your claim that people who are 400 lbs got that way through constantly shoving ice cream down their throats is very ignorant. Nearly all the 300 lbs + people who come to the center got that way through dieting their whole lives. They have more willpower than you can imagine.

Why do I work in the center if we install these lap bands? Many reasons, including personal situation, but it's just one part of my job and I try to ensure my patients are treated with dignity.

I saw this commercial when I was visiting my parents at Christmas and I said, "What, does France no longer allow fat people in?"

These bands and their ilk make me crazy. One of my friends who is pretty fat seriously considered getting one but finally decided against it because she ultimately felt it was like getting a "stomach lobotomy." I have to say I agree.

Let's just hope that this invasive, life-altering surgery doesn't have any complications that would keep the father from seeing his "little warrior's" first competition or graduation or wedding, or keeping the "happy" couple from having a happy, healthy family of their own and/or succeed in their careers.
People tend forget that all these weight loss surgeries can be very dangerous. I've seen so many horror stories on the internet--but, of course, none of them make the news because that's where they're pushing weight loss and thinness. And that push really focuses very little (if at all) on the health of the individual.

my issues with this particular ad, and these kinds of ads in general, is that it promotes the idea that fat people don't deserve _________. those of you talking about the 400 lbs person you were forced to sit next to, please understand your weight measuring with your eyes is way off. please also understand that, even if it weren't people are due some basic human respect regardless of their size. i weight 230-250 lbs depending on when i get on a scale. i wear a size 18/20. i stand a t 5'9 in bare feet. i am the people this ad targets. i am the people who are ruenning this country with my morbid obesity. i am the people who get told i can't do things: fun things, love things, sexy things, joyful things, unless i lose 100 lbs. then i can be loved, can be sexy, can have a good job, can get out of debt...

there is a world of information out there about the way in which obesity actually effects the body. it's not what you've been lead to believe. google "obesity paradox" to find out how obesity can save your life. visit junkfood science to actually look at the statistics and data produced by medical professionals.

as for this sugury being safe... it isn't. if you, or a loved one, make the decision to have it that is your choice. but it is not safe. the statistics over the long term show monumental increases in mortality for those who have had the sugury. much higher than if they had never undergone the procedure. the starvation diets people have to live on post-op never go away. it is a deadly cosmetic surgury masquerading as a healthy option. and ads like this one only serve to pressure people to conform to a beauty ideal that is highly unatainable for most people, and carries with it a price tag most people end up paying with their lives.

Sorry to hear that you're "offended" by reality, Renata. She went to sleep because the seat was too small? Right, was it constricting the circulation to her brain, is that it?

Obese people are obese because they diet and have immense willpower to stick to their diets, right, got it. And do people with lung cancer get it from trying to quit smoking?

Are you a nurse on Earth or on some other planet?

I didn't say the person next to me weighted 400 lbs. I didn't have a scale handy to weigh her. I do know that we have a goodly number of people running around in this country at 400+ lbs., and you have to do a lot of eating and very little exercising to get yourself into that shape. Or do you believe, like Renata, that people get to 400 lbs. because they are successfully sticking to diets?

Who said you're "ruenning" the country? I said obese people cause some problems in public life that are directly related to their obesity. Frankly, if obese people want to e.g., discount the science that indicates that obesity is connected with serious health problems (check today's NY Times for info on the new British Medical Journal study demonstrating just that) until they're blue in the face, I couldn't care less. People have a right to believe foolish things if they wish. That doesn't mean the rest of us have to refuse to talk about the reality of how obesity negatively affects us even though we're not obese.

"that push really focuses very little (if at all) on the health of the individual."

Really? Check out today's NYTimes. Interesting story on a study in the British Medical Journal that shows that obese teens are as likely to die prematurely as heavy smokers. Do you object to a social push to get people off tobacco too, or do you see that as about an aesthetic desire to have more people who don't smell of smoke rather than about the health of those people?

Andy, clearly Renata meant that the woman was pretending to be asleep so she wouldn't have to face your scorn and annoyance. Not that her fat somehow caused her to fall asleep. And you have no idea how much willpower another human has, or their personal situation. You can't just look at a fat person and assume that they've gotten that way by plowing through ice cream.

This commercial perpetuates the great lie society tells fat people:

Lose weight and all your dreams will come true.