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May 24, 2007
Real Cops Called On Food Cop
Boycotting motivational programs, demonizing Girl Scouts, and banning birthday cupcakes are just part of a day's work for "executive publicist/advocate for brain, body, libido" MeMe Roth. Roth is the founder of National Action Against Obesity (NAAO). Yesterday the Philadelphia Spring Valley YMCA had to call the cops on the publicist-turned-food-cop when she tried to vandalize a table of toppings for ice cream sundaes.
We're not making this up.
The NAAO president tried to justify her antics by claiming that "those of us fighting to keep our children and ourselves healthy deserve to have somewhere safe to go without being pressured to eat junk food." But she failed to mention that she freely chooses to belong to the dessert-dealing community center (and even pays dues), although the Y is threatening to terminate her membership over her outburst. And a closer look at Roth's history of manic meltdowns reveals that this failed citizen's arrest (of ice cream) is really just a sad grab for the limelight.
Meme Roth is not new to the world of over-the-top publicity stunts. Going by the name "Meredith," she has served as marketing management for Edelman public relations, Today she runs Roth & Co. Public Relations, consults on "sexy strategies" for the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization, and does private image consulting (accepting clients by referral only). With a career in media relations, it's no surprise that Roth knows how to get attention by using Mother's Day as a hook to blame parents for their daughters' weight or denouncing Redbook magazine for allegedly encouraging obesity by running a "body acceptance" issue.
But those campaigns are just publishing icing on the cake for this fat-natic. Roth's annual Wedding Dress Challenge exemplifies her absurd point of view:
Most women I know commit fraud on their wedding days--they weigh-in for the walk down the aisle with no expectation of maintaining that weight year after year ... Somewhere between the wedding reception and delivery room, many women abandon their brains, body and libido. It's wrong to be fat. It's easy, but it's wrong ... Dump your friends who plan to grow fatter with every year. Surround yourself with those who aspire to greater things.
In light of her hunger for publicity and thinly veiled disgust for every woman whose dress size is bigger than her shoe size, Roth's revolt against the YMCA's colorful sprinkles, whipped topping, and chocolate sauce colors her not as an activist, but as a BIGot.
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