Jameela Jamil “Will Work With Any Brand Except The Diet Industry – Do Not Approach” — Cannes Lions
Jameela Jamil – actress, writer, podcaster – has said she will work with any brand “as long as they’re not in the diet industry – in that case, please do not approach.”
Speaking at Cannes Lions, Jamil expanded on her reasons for avoiding working with companies selling diet products: “I’m not interested in yet another project that is going to restrict a woman’s freedom in how she feels and make her feel bad about herself. I want her to build her mental health,” she said.
“The brands I’m interested in working with are those that help women sleep better, or move faster, or technology that get mostly advertised on men’s podcasts. Food – give us food. I want to remind women to eat, I don’t want to sell diet products that tell women to stop eating. I don’t want to be yet another reminder that women need to restrict and show their discipline via what their bodies look like.”
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The Good Place star said “progress has to be incremental,” adding: “If you haven’t been progressive throughout the entire history of your brand, that’s okay.”
Instead of the diet industry, Jamil said she wants to engage with brands “that I could meaningfully talk about,” even if they are “problematic.”
Jamil has for the past two years hosted the podcast I Weigh, which she calls a safe space for mental health and social justice. She spoke of her plans to use this platform, plus her Instagram account, to expand what she calls “a fitness movement,” with its focus on “growing mental health in a way that feels accessible.”
Asked about her forthcoming role in Pixar movie Elio and other acting roles including that of Tahani Al-Jamil in NBC’s The Good Place, specifically how this fits in with her social activism, Jamil explained: “All people hold multitudes. I use acting to entertain, because we need escapism. I channel different parts of myself through different parts of my art, in order to provide a full service. I want to create little pockets for those different moments in people’s lives.”
She shared with the Festival her ideas for ‘Move for Your Mind.’
“When we built I Weigh, we wanted our tag line to be that we want to make women feel smarter and happier, not thinner and younger,” said Jamil.
“We are encouraging people to move, not for their abs, but only for the mental health benefits. We’re trying to break exercise culture as it is, because it’s very punitive. No pain, no gain – what the f*** is that? We want to bring joy and hope. I want to move my body in a way that is just good for my brain, just for me, not for anybody else.”
Jamil also explained what had inspired her to launch I Weigh back in April 2020:
“I opened Instagram and it sent me pictures of famous women with numbers written across their body. It was their weight. Once I’d clicked on one, I was bombarded.
“I wrote, ‘I weigh my relationships, my friendships, my orgasms, my contributions to society, all the mistakes I’ve made and learned from, I weigh the sum of my parts, I weigh what I’m going to remember on my death bed and hopefully that’s not going to be what I weighed.’
“It led to a viral movement that lasted for three years, people sending in what they weigh under my metric, so I turned it into a podcast.
“It became this mental health space, and social justice space. I wanted to create a safe space where I could interview amazing experts from around the world, and [listeners] could learn with me. I think, because it’s safe and welcoming, that’s why it’s been so successful.
“It’s so much easier to be authentic, without camera, lighting, makeup. You get a sense of someone’s reality. You’re in an intimate relationship with your listener. This podcast is by far the best part of my 15-year career.”
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