Before Guy Cool, After Guy Sad

We have all seen plenty of advertisements that feature before and after pictures. There's the bald guy in the before picture that thanks to some magical product has a full head of hair in the after picture. Sometimes you see Mike Ditka doing, um, something with his teeth. Easily the most common before-after advertisements show miraculous weight loss among the pictured individual(s). I often find that the pictures are so unclear that you're not even sure that the person is the same. Regardless, the person in the after picture always looks better. Right?

Welcome to this ad by Clarendon Fitness published in a recent Express.

While I believe that Clarendon Fitness wants to show that the guy lost weight due to his use of their gym, you're not quite sure based on the pictures. Does he really look thinner in the after picture? Besides, the guy looks happy, humorous and funny in the before picture and dejected and miserable in the after picture. Did anyone from Clarendon Fitness notice this while proofing the ad? Maybe they were just looking at the woman in the bikini.

The guy is not really the best endorsement for the gym. Of course, maybe everyone is just looking at the woman.

Update: It's always fun when I hear from the company that was the subject of my blog post. Take it away, Clarendon Fitness.

@seansramblings @ClarendonFit lol. I was wondering the same thing. We kicked his butt that day. It was tough losing 80lbs in 6 months.

— Clarendon Fitness (@ClarendonFit) December 18, 2013