We are a nation of fat people. Pick up any newspaper or other media outlet in the Western world and you’re sure to find an article about the concerns health authorities and experts have about the “Obesity Problem.” In fact, it has gotten so bad that experts predict obesity will become a bigger health problem than smoking. The worst thing is that, although you don’t see children under the age of ten suffering from emphysema, you do see many overweight children. So perhaps the expert’s concerns are valid: We’re all getting too fat.

Unlike other “trends,” however, obesity is not a problem that clothing manufacturers, automobile designers, furniture manufacturers, and other segments of the industrial and business world have embraced as a target niche market, which they would have capitalized on. virtually any other target. available market. Although there are some designer brands that cater to larger men and women, the clothing available in larger retail stores caters from the “skinny” to the “must watch our weight” range. For those of us who have given up watching our weight because we can’t lose it now, finding clothes that fit well, chairs that are comfortable, and cars that are easy to get into is becoming as rare as hen’s teeth.

For older women, the problem is even more apparent. Although aging Baby Boomers remain one of the largest target markets in the Western world, advertisers have decreed that even older men and women must be thin. While anyone with half a brain can understand that a lifetime spent eating fatty foods while sitting on a couch is unhealthy for a number of vital organs, there is little appreciation for what might be called “symbols of life.” Let me explain with an example.

Jackie is a middle-aged woman on the downhill slope at fifty years of age. She is also a “big” woman, now weighing what she used to be when she was nine months pregnant. Her weight gain is likely based on lifestyle with a hint of genetics (all of her maternal relatives were also large women). Contrary to what experts predict about her lifestyle, Jackie is a happy and, more importantly, healthy woman. She walks for thirty minutes every day; she eats and drinks in moderation, making sure she has enough fresh fruits and vegetables every day; she runs a small but busy business from her home and she can’t remember the last time she was away from work due to illness.

When Jackie was asked if she thought she was overweight, she replied quite honestly that if she had been left to her own devices, she would have thought her body image was okay. But what she did say is that because you can’t shop for clothes off department store shelves very often, and because you have to be careful where you sit because you’re likely to get stuck in those little plastic chairs that looked like Designed more for children than adults, she believes her environment makes her feel overweight. And perhaps most significantly, she is made to feel that something is wrong with her.

In our interview, Jackie said, “I know I’m not a petite woman, but I look at my body in private and think ‘what’s wrong with it?’ little weight with each. But I look at my body with pride because I had five children; it does what I want it to do, and while it may not fit social attitudes about what the ideal body weight should be, I know I’m healthy energetic and strong enough to do what I want and need to do in a day. So why should I change to fit society’s ideas?”

Jackie makes a valid point. Surely there should be a time when women who have paid their fair share; have given birth, raised their families and basically spent at least twenty years of their life caring for someone else (even if they don’t have children of their own) don’t they have to conform to a social image? That these women can feel comfortable in their own skin and not be dictated to by a (younger) generation of people who don’t appreciate the good things these women have done?

Society shows its lack of respect for older women through its constant comparison techniques between young and old (read skinny and fat) to create a community in the Western world where at least women of all ages should conform to one unrealistic body image. And it is because of this social pressure that companies do not realize that there are a number of older women who are at least secretly and passively rebelling. They don’t watch their weight; They don’t care about your body image. These women have many other exciting things going on in their lives. It is only as consumers that these women have to face society’s rejection of them and what they are.

Good health is important, and this writer is not for a moment suggesting that women, or men, should deliberately go out and engage in risky behaviors like binge eating fatty foods. Overweight kids should definitely be told to get off the couch and go play. But on the other side of the coin, this writer does believe that there should be a place in our society for women who are proud of who they are, proud of what they have achieved and who dress their bodies like an old coat, they feel immensely comfortable. in.

So if you’re looking for the next “best business idea” then maybe you should start looking at one of the biggest target markets out there in today’s society, and how you could make money by appreciating the value of older women, and get started. to think fat, instead of thin.