The Swiss - along with the rest of the world - like to make fun of Americans and how fat they are. However, I have been noticing billboards like this one popping up all around the Basel area over the past couple of months. The billboard points out to the Swiss that THEY are getting fatter (one-third are overweight), and it references a website that gives all sorts of "top secret" information on how to lose weight such as: exercise more, eat less fat and sugar, etc. (DUH!).When Mrs. TBF and I moved to Switzerland in 2000, we were amazed at how slim and fit the Swiss all looked. One rarely saw an obese Swiss person; I'm talking, like, once per year. It was so rare, in fact, that when an obese Swissy appeared in public, people would just stare...and I'm talking Swiss - who always stare at everything anyway - and foreigners alike.
A couple of years ago, we began noticing that the Swiss were beginning to look a bit pudgy. Unlike America, where people wear clothes that are too big for them in order to hide the bulge, the Swiss seem to insist on squeezing into their old, too-small clothes which results in considerable public displays of muffin-tops.
Too-tight, low-rise jeans + midriff-baring top + love handles = BAD LOOK! Trust me on this one!
So, let's see here...
There are a little over 7 million people in Switzerland of which about twenty-five percent are foreign. If one-third of the Swiss are overweight, then that comes out to nearly 1.8 million people. There are currently 645,000 Swiss living abroad... The skiing in Switzerland is currently in a bad state due to the lack of snow. This means that the Swiss aren't able to work off all the fondue they're eating at this time of year...
I'm predicting that by this April...there will only be approximately twelve thin Swiss left. Of course, they'll all be complaining about how fat Americans are.
11 comments:
I clicke don the article you linked. Only 22% of Swiss living abroad vote!
I have always firmly believed that if you do not exercise your right to vote, you have given up your right to complain about what the elected officials are doing!
By the way, this posting reminded me that GLH and I had not yet registered to vote while living abroad. There won't be an election for months, but I just registered to make certain we don't forget to do it until it is too late.
I have never missed an election since my 18th birthday. Not about to start now!
So, thanks for the reminder!
Those ads crack me up. I love the one with the double-wide sled... it's just so Swiss!
Hehe, learn something new every day. I didn't know of the "muffin top" appellation.
I blogged about this ad campaign as well. Did you see the TV spot on the website with the off-screen heavyweight kid?
GL - I have never voted because I'm not a U.S. citizen. I guess I could probably vote in a Canadian election, but seeing that I haven't lived there since 1963, it probably isn't in the country's best interest for me to do so.
I just go with George Carlin's thinking: The only people who DO have a right to complain are the people who DON'T vote. That's because the people who voted are the one's who voted the bums in. The people who didn't vote...didn't.
I'm the poster child for "taxation without representation"!
hehehe.. muffin top! I love that term.
Anonymous - If you don't sign your name on your comment, then you don't have a right to complain!
i was just thinking the same thing yesterday - was running along the littoral and i kept having to dodge BIG women and then i ran past the picnic area, where people had McD's laid out !
LOL - yes a funny post! I wonder what/who you'll get in your visitor box now..
Hey, I thought I'd left a comment to this post yesterday. Something about that "muffin-top" expression. Whatevah.
Hee hee! My boyfriend's been complaining about fat Americans ever since we met. So of course one of the first things I noticed when we got here is how many WEIGHT WATCHERS items there are at Coop. Why would it be so heavily advertised if it weren't needed? Hmm...
un-swiss:
In the past couple of years, Mrs. TBF and I have lost a combined total of 70 lbs. on the Weight Watchers diet, and we still follow the diet (during the week, at least) to this day. Because of the multitude of WW products, the diet is INCREDIBLY easy to follow here in Switzerland.
Post a Comment