Issues with content of email

[kmyr1123]

So I got the latest email about you making an NFT but there is something else that I want to comment on in that email.

I have seen jimmy joy as a brand that is focused on the environment, but also as a brand that focused on being something that everyone could have.

As someone who has struggled with an eating disorder in the past, I didn’t really appreciate the email talking about ”covid floaties.” or talking about getting rid of a ”surplus.”

In the same email you said ”every body is a summer body” but then go on to talk about how someone want might want to ”get rid of that surplus” which for many who struggle with eating disorders is pretty clearly language that would imply that being larger and having a ”surplus” is something bad.

Using the term ”covid floaties” does not give the impression that you truly believe that ”every body is a summer body.” Like that is not a funny term, and its not a great way to show that you support every body type. Its a great way to make someone who is struggling with their weight feel like shit, and after the past year with covid, and the stress surrounding it, the last thing anyone needs is to feel like they are being judged for their body and mind’s natural reaction to stress or grief.

I appreciate the way that you have the blogs organized on the site so that you can tell which articles are about weight loss and which are not, and think that its totally ok to say that the plenny shakes can help with weight loss. The same thoughtfulness about the topic needs to be reflected in your emails.

If you are going to send an email about ”every body” being a ”summer body” then it shouldn’t be with a context of wanting to lose weight surrounding it. You could have talked about how plenny shakes are great for taking to the beach, or how plenny shakes help keep people of all body sizes full and give them the energy they need to have summer fun! But instead, you chose to surround the body positive message with messages saying that being larger is not desirable.

I REALLY hope that next time you will think more about your messaging. As this was not a fun email for me to get, as I was not expecting to get an email telling me that I should lose weight, especially when the title of it was ”We made an NFT”

You may not have explicitly said ”you should lose weight.” But by calling fat ”covid floaties” and making the click through button say ”Get rid of those COVID-floaties!” it sends a pretty clear message that gaining weight is not desirable. Essentially this comes down to your email tried to be inclusive, but it is clear that the audience of the email was not meant to be an inclusive audience.

You were marketing in this email to people who want to lose weight. Next time don’t try to include people who are bigger by adding in how inclusive you are about body size as it gives off negative vibes, as well as it feels fake. Its 100% OK to market to people who want to lose weight. Its NOT ok to try to smush in a phrase about how size inclusive you are between messages to those who want to lose weight. And it definitely is not a good idea to do that in an email that has a COMPLETELY different topic.

[Mahsa]

Hello Kathleen,

Thank you for your honest opinion about our email! It was in no way meant to insult or harm anyone. As you know, our tone of voice aims to be friendly, informal and lighthearted. We consider our readers our friends and want to relate to them. Most of the Jimmy Joy team has gained a few pounds over covid, and we jokingly coined the term covid-floaties to express this. We thought it could also be relatable to others, so pre-summer was a relevant time to share some tips to help everybody out in case they felt they wanted to do something about it. In no way do we want to ridicule or marginalise people with an eating disorder, or force anyone into a crazy diet if they’re already comfortable in their skin. Healthy looks different on everybody, and we don’t want to promote just one body ideal, as we already mentioned in the email. However, if we would include all these nuances and explanations into the email, we would end up with a huge paragraph most people wouldn’t read. That is why it might have come across blunt, in this case. I hope this helped to explain our train of thought, and we are always happy to to receive messages and feedback from you guys. Next time we will refrain from using wording that might come across offensive since we now know this is a touchy subject.

With love and joy,
Mahsa

[kmyr1123]

Hi! Thanks for the response.

As I said above. I don’t mind if you want to market to people who want to lose weight. What bothered me was that on the one hand you said that ”every body is a summer body” Which is great, but then you surrounded it with messaging about wanting to lose weight.

If you want to talk about losing weight, then thats fine, but there are ways to talk about being healthy, and how ”every body is a summer body” without talking about how people look, or losing weight.

Next time maybe you could have an email about how the shakes help every body have energy to have some summer fun, or how they keep you full when you are on a summer adventure out in nature.

It might just be me being sensitive. But like I said, the way the blogs on the site are organized really was great. With those I have never felt like I was being tricked into reading about weight loss, because they are clearly labeled with what they will talk about.

So if you do want to send emails about weight loss maybe somehow indicate it in the subject. That would be a huge help.

I completely understand that you all didn’t mean to be offensive. I can understand where you are coming from that it was kind of like a joking tone between friends. And I love the tone of the emails normally. I think its nice because it gives it a personal touch. I mostly just wanted to point out that if you want to talk about weight loss in an email, you might want to lable it, and you also should not try to combine the body positivity message with a message about weight loss because then it seems like the body positivity message is not how you really feel. It comes off fake.

I’m excited to see what you all come up with next. I’ve been drinking my shakes for breakfast for nearly a month. (I skipped a few three days around my birthday to have cake for breakfast. ) But I have already noticed that I am more motivated to have breakfast which is a huge help in my life. As I was known to get hanxious (hungry and anxious) before when I didn’t eat breakfast.

Thanks again for responding. It makes me happy to feel like you value the feedback of the customers! Have a great day!

[Mahsa]

Hi Kathleen, absolutely, my pleasure.
It might be that you received the different version of the email where the subject of fat loss was stated in the subheader, making it a bit less clear. We usually send out two different headers for the email to see which title seems to resonate with people more.

The overall theme of this email was prepping for summer; for some people this means looking good on the beach, for some people this means making their Plenny meals drinks more summer ready (hence the tips we included), and we also added the beach themed NFT we made. The email wasn’t meant to be misleading, but as a handy short overview of some info/tips for summer. Our primary goal is to make complex things such as nutrition accesible and easy for everybody. But your suggestions (shakes help every body have energy to have some summer fun, or how they keep you full when you are on a summer adventure out in nature) will definitely be included next time!

It’s really nice to hear our Shakes have been of such a help for breakfast. I can definitely relate to getting hanxious haha, and personally love having tea and one of our bars in the morning.

Wishing you a great week AND summer too!
I’m sure our future emails won’t disappoint you again.