The Dramatic Transformation Campaign by ASICS

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This is Luv, and here’s your weekly Marketing Shot :)

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The fitness industry has spent decades selling us the exact same lie. A split-screen image showing a miserable person on the left, and a tanned, shredded version of the same person on the right. For years, brands have used these before-and-after photos to tell us that exercise is only worth it if it changes how you look. 

But in October 2022, ASICS decided to do something different.

Four days before World Mental Health Day, major European public figures posted their fitness transformation photographs on social media. The portrait images looked slick, shot by award-winning photographer Sophie Harris-Taylor. 

They were uploaded with the hashtag #DramaticTransformation and captioned as proud records of fitness progress. 

Naturally, the internet did what the internet does. People opened the images, zoomed in, and immediately had questions.

The before and after images looked almost identical. There was absolutely no weight loss. There was no visible muscle gain, and no change in body composition. The comment sections filled up within minutes. Some users pointed out the complete lack of physical transformation, others were genuinely confused.

Then, on World Mental Health Day, ASICS revealed the twist "Not all transformations are visible“

Sophie Harris-Taylor had actually photographed each person before and after just 15 minutes and 9 seconds of exercise. Why that specific number? Because ASICS research had previously identified it as the exact minimum time required to experience a measurable uplift in your mental state.

The physical change was negligible because it was supposed to be. The real transformation was entirely mental, making it completely invisible to the camera lens.

More importantly, ASICS pledged to completely banish purely aesthetic before-and-after imagery from their own social media channels moving forward. 

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That's a wrap for today! Stay tuned for the next edition.

Thanks,
Luv