Blogger gets the boot after gym ad attack
Celebrity blogger Katrin Zytomierska has been sacked from the Swedish lifestyle website Finest.se, after a vitriolic post about an advert by gym chain SATS made the public see red and advertisers abandon the site.
"After the developments following Katrin Zytomierska’s highly publicized SATS-post, Finest.se chooses to cease our collaboration with Katrin and terminate her contract as a blogger with us,” Alexander Erwik, editor-in-chief of Finest.se, told media newspaper Dagens Media.
Zytomierska is one of Sweden's highest profile bloggers, and her criticism of the advert and its subject's "plump" appearance, prompted a heated debate in the Swedish media last week.
In her post, Zytomierska questioned why it is "okay for women to be plump in Sweden", calling the SATS campaign "disgusting feminist propaganda".
The blog post received thousands of comments, prompted a response from the SATS CEO, and generated extensive debate in media and social media circles.
SATS stressed that the purpose of the advert was to underline that the company welcomed everyone, of all shapes and sizes, as members of the gym.
The woman in the advert responded to Zytomierska’s post in the media newspaper Resumé, saying she wanted to protect her daughters from “women who have developed internet bullying into an art form just to pull in a little money and get a few minutes in the limelight”.
After several high-profile sponsors withdrew their cooperation with Finest.se, Zytomierska returned to the subject on her blog to defend herself, saying it should be acceptable “to comment on people's bodies and health in the same way as you have the right to slam people's clothes and appearance”.
"One should have the right to call a fatso a fatso, if she is a fatso,” Zytomierska wrote.
However, Finest decided that Zytomierska had taken her criticism too far and erased her controversial post. The posts from the last four years are still on the site and the company hasn’t decided when or if these will be removed, according to the Dagens Industri newspaper.
“We want to stress once again that we don't endorse Katrin’s views or the body ideal that she stands for. We have, however, supported her right to express her views,” Erwik told Dagens Media.
Zytomierska herself is not fazed by Finest's decision, telling the paper that her former employers were doing the right thing.
“They are a company like any other and would be stupid if they hadn’t done this. I met with them already on Thursday and told them that if they were losing revenue because of me they must cease the collaboration immediately. I am a businesswoman myself,” she told the paper.
Zytomierska called the media storm surrounding her SATS criticism “absurd” and said she had already been approached by two other companies asking her to blog for them, but had yet to make a decision which to choose.
The Local/rm
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"After the developments following Katrin Zytomierska’s highly publicized SATS-post, Finest.se chooses to cease our collaboration with Katrin and terminate her contract as a blogger with us,” Alexander Erwik, editor-in-chief of Finest.se, told media newspaper Dagens Media.
Zytomierska is one of Sweden's highest profile bloggers, and her criticism of the advert and its subject's "plump" appearance, prompted a heated debate in the Swedish media last week.
In her post, Zytomierska questioned why it is "okay for women to be plump in Sweden", calling the SATS campaign "disgusting feminist propaganda".
The blog post received thousands of comments, prompted a response from the SATS CEO, and generated extensive debate in media and social media circles.
SATS stressed that the purpose of the advert was to underline that the company welcomed everyone, of all shapes and sizes, as members of the gym.
The woman in the advert responded to Zytomierska’s post in the media newspaper Resumé, saying she wanted to protect her daughters from “women who have developed internet bullying into an art form just to pull in a little money and get a few minutes in the limelight”.
After several high-profile sponsors withdrew their cooperation with Finest.se, Zytomierska returned to the subject on her blog to defend herself, saying it should be acceptable “to comment on people's bodies and health in the same way as you have the right to slam people's clothes and appearance”.
"One should have the right to call a fatso a fatso, if she is a fatso,” Zytomierska wrote.
However, Finest decided that Zytomierska had taken her criticism too far and erased her controversial post. The posts from the last four years are still on the site and the company hasn’t decided when or if these will be removed, according to the Dagens Industri newspaper.
“We want to stress once again that we don't endorse Katrin’s views or the body ideal that she stands for. We have, however, supported her right to express her views,” Erwik told Dagens Media.
Zytomierska herself is not fazed by Finest's decision, telling the paper that her former employers were doing the right thing.
“They are a company like any other and would be stupid if they hadn’t done this. I met with them already on Thursday and told them that if they were losing revenue because of me they must cease the collaboration immediately. I am a businesswoman myself,” she told the paper.
Zytomierska called the media storm surrounding her SATS criticism “absurd” and said she had already been approached by two other companies asking her to blog for them, but had yet to make a decision which to choose.
The Local/rm
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