Apparently he is an ex Big Brother contestant, who had a girlfriend called Karly. Not an avid fan of reality TV, he is completely off my radar. But he is on the radar of my beautiful size 10-12 (US size 6- 8. ) daughter. She is 15, and she has heard about a pill that can shrink you 3 dress sizes in 3 weeks.
But back to Kenneth, apparently he is a playboy from Hong Kong and he is currently trending on Twitter for his comments regarding weightloss. It seems he is a fan of something called “managed anorexia”. Yes, you read that right, managed anorexia.
Apparently we have no excuse to be overweight, anorexia is manageable…
Let’s get it straight right now, no it’s not. It’s not manageable and it is not healthy to be a size zero with an eating disorder.
Talking to some anorexia sufferers last night and today, they all say that the anorexia manages them. They all wish without a doubt in their mind that they had never had it.
Back to Kenneth Tong and his magic pills, the ones he is using Twitter to promote. Kenneth is being represented by Max Clifford, a father of one daughter. I wonder how he would feel if his daughter came home with a guy like Kenneth? Or started a “managed anorexia” program? I know how I feel, and I wonder why Max Clifford continues to represent him?
[pullquote]I wonder why Max Clifford continues to represent him[/pullquote]
For Kenneth though, Max Clifford representing him is a good thing, on Twitter Simon Cowell called him out and stated he was a village idiot who didnt deserve a village… Kenneth thought that Simon should be endorsing him as they share the same PR…. yes really.
Of course, as a woman who is a size 20 on a good day, I know people will think I am just jealous that this pill is being marketed with anorexics in mind… but that was how I got to where I am, a size 20. I have what is known as “BED” Binge Eating Disorder. Food manages me too.
Once upon a time I was a young, impressionable 19 year old, a size 10 and I met a bloke who told me at 8 stone and 6lbs, that I could do with losing a bit of weight. Another Kenneth who felt any woman of a size 10 and above needed to lose weight. I was introduced to a world of diet pills, binge drinking and induced vomiting, him not me. Slowly he unravelled my natural eating habits and now I can’t get them back. That’s all of my story that I am sharing, you see I still have a daughter that is young and impressionable and I don’t want her thinking that this is an acceptable way to live – it’s not.
Over the years I have found one thing that works and that is exercise, not magic pills. But before we go any further we need to get back to the managed anorexia – how can you exercise when you are starving to death? You can’t. You can’t think straight and you lose control over your life. Hunger hurts, it hurts your body, it unravels your mind.
Lisa Johnson, of Lisa Johnson Fitness has some stats for us -
So I did a little digging. Some statistics…
- It’s “vanity sizing” a made up number by US clothing manufacturer’s, in the UK it’s a size four.
- A size zero’s measurements are 30″ – 22″ – 32″ or 84-64-89 cms.
- A 22″ waist corresponds with the average pant size of an 8 year old.
- Marilyn Monroe’s measurements according to her dressmaker were, 35, 22, 35.
- The average US woman is a size 14 today. Those measurements are 39, 31 1/2, 42 1/2
There are certainly women out there who are naturally and happily a size zero. There are also women out there who put in a little bit of effort to maintain a size zero and are happy with where they are. The vast majority of the rest of us can’t even conceive of doing this.
The Argument
Of course Tong advocates that being a certain dress size is the ONLY key to happiness and to dating stud muffins such as himself. If I read one of his tweets correctly he referenced having 104 “dates” last year. Who wants to sleep with a guy with venereal disease?
Parents hearts are broken when their beloved daughters are gripped by anorexia, it tears families apart. It hurts people in such a way it can take decades to recover.
Kenneth Tong, you are on my radar now.
Thankfully my daughter won’t be showing up in your twitter stream as her healthy weight is too fat for you. You will no longer be able to whisper your poison to her, as she has seen you for what you really are. Google is good for that, all your past sins made present. She has seen what a vile twisted man you are, how you treat women and although she doesn’t understand your motivation for doing this, she does understand that you want one thing from her; money.
As to my original question, who the hell is Kenneth Tong?… he is a silly little misogynistic boy, whose bitterness has seeped over into our daughters lives.
But we don’t have to accept it, we can fight back.
- We can ask to see the clinical trials of his magic pills.
- We can ask to see the medical papers published on managed anorexia
- We can pressure Max Clifford to stop representing him
- We can listen to our daughters fears and educate them how people will prey on them
- We can ignore him on Twitter and Facebook
We can do lots, together our voice is bigger and none of us want our children coming home with the likes of Kenneth Tong.
Sarah
PS you may note I have no links to show you the evidence, I did that on purpose. Links will make his cause easier to be found in the search engines, something I am not happy to do.
Resources B-Eat for help with anorexia, bulimia and other eating problems. Thanks @ Jody Kat
Update 11/01/11 Kenneth Tong admits the size zero thing was a hoax… oh how we all laughed. Not.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a297296/kenneth-tong-admits-size-zero-hoax.html
Sarah Arrow
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It’s hard to understand how people like this man can get away with such shameful stuff without being lynched. I think Simon Cowell is wrong; the guy isn’t an idiot – he’s a monster. Powerful post, Sarah, and thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Yes he is, and for some young girls that makes him doubly attractive
Just looking at the stats, we are getting found for his “managed anorexia” and hopefully people will understand there is not such thing.
I saw people tweeting with his name the other day and went to investigate what the furore was. When I found it I asked those in question the reason they included his @ name – why give him the satisfaction and credence to have his name be bandied further into the Twitter streams? I’m glad you didn’t link Sarah.
I cannot make his case any stronger Jackie
at the moment if you do a search for him, you will find us and Lisa’s blog on the matter. Two voices standing out, trying to give an alternative, healthy view.
Hopefully to discredit him….by exposing him for the fool that he is.
He seems like he’s out for attention — spouting horrible and harmful views and preying on vulnerable girls and women. A very nasty piece of work. Sarah, thanks for speaking up against this.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention… I am speechless. As a training child psychotherapist and the Aunt of 6 delightful teenage/young adult nieces, it breaks my heart to think of them being exposed to this vicious and life-threatening bollocks. Anorexia has the highest mortality rate of ANY mental illness, and for many young sufferers what might start as a diet spirals unmanageable and tragically into anorexia, which is a heartbreaking disease not only for them, but for their families too. Kenneth Tong’s on my radar now… sadly. For anyone looking for information or advice on young people and eating disorders in the UK, BEAT http://www.b-eat.co.uk can help.
Eh, I think it’s a trolling (fake) account….
Thanks for telling us about this, Sarah. There are some vile people out there and we should all do what we can to stop them. Max Clifford isn’t a particular friend of mine, but I’ll email him!
Max Clifford wouldn’t be worried about his daughter bringing anyone home because she is very heavily disabled (and in fact he does do a lot of quiet work for charity). He seems to be one of those odd people who have a monster persona in public and a rather nice character in his private life.
Another one of those (oh look who he’s managed by!) is Simon Cowell. And he’s such a PR sleaze that I wouldn’t put it past him to be raising Tong’s profile by officially slamming him.
This nonsense about size is indeed poison. Yes, there are many very obese people who really could do with losing weight for health reasons. But people like Tong aren’t interested in them. They are interested in the ones they might want to date. It’s a form of control. Of course.
That’s not Simon Cowell in your article. Fake account.
Apparently Max Clifford isn’t representing this person any more – this is the reply I got from his PA:
Dear Ruth,
Thank you for your email however I can assure you that Kenneth Tong is NOT a client of MCA. We did represent Kenneth and his girlfriend Carly in 2009 after their appearance in Big Brother which lasted only a few months and since that we have had no contact with him and certainly do not condone his actions on twitter.
Regards,
PA to Max Clifford
Max Clifford Associates,
I got a similar response back, I wonder why FT still thinks he is being represented by them?
When you’re dealing with the media, you can believe one of two explanations for any of their actions: 1. laziness 2. hidden agendas. Could be either in this case. My dad used to say the only thing you could believe printed in any newspaper was the date on the top!
Sarah, you’re absolutely right – encouraging young girls to be a unhealthy weight and become reliant on pills of any description is so dangerous! I was once in hospital with some anorexics in the next ward to me- it was frightening! Promoting manageable anorexia is so irresponsible. Lets hope people boycott any initiatives like this and encourage young women to eat healthily and be happy with their own bodies- whatever their size or shape.
It is truly horrendous! It makes me so mad … thanks Sarah for letting us know ,as I too haven’t heard of him.
i read this earlier today… and i really felt fat.
i’m sixteen years old and i’ve always been chubby.
i’m a size 9. and i’m very active but i never lose weight.
i think if those pills really do work, i won’t be looked down upon anymore.
i read this earlier today… and i really felt fat.
i’m sixteen years old and i’ve always been chubby.
i’m a size 9. and i’m very active but i never lose weight.
i think if those pills really do work, i won’t be looked down upon anymore.
Jackiee, these pills do not work, there is no magic pill and being thinner won’t make life any better, I speak from experience and I am sure others will too. Have a chat with your doctors, get them to measure your body mass index and get suggestions from them – if you need help, take their advice.
These people mentioned by Jody Kat above are very good http://www.b-eat.co.uk
“Kenneth is being represented by Max Clifford, a father of one daughter. I wonder how he would feel if his daughter came home with a guy like Kenneth? Or started a “managed anorexia” program? I know how I feel, and I wonder why Max Clifford continues to represent him?”
£££££££££££s.
The disgusting thing is, while most people will ignore his sickening tweets, there are still some people who are too vulnerable to ignore it and see it for the rubbish it really it.
TThanks for the post on this, Sarah. I saw someone’s reply to him on Twitter about “managed anorexia” and was immediately horrified that someone would even use a term like that. I lost 12 years of my life to that disease and spent a solid 4 years bouncing from hospital to hospital and treatment center to treatment center. My body, luckily, is freakishly resilient, because I was in a medical state that was so bad even my drs were amazed that I survived. There is no happiness in starvation and I hope someone shuts down his Twitter account before more young people buy into his lies and fall victim to an eating disorder.
this should be a useful guide for complaining about his shitty pills
http://www.nightingale-collaboration.org/
What a Grade A knob, people like this should have their freedom of speech revoked! Is no wonder that the world is going to pot when there are idiots like this out there. Humans are under enough pressure to conform to ideologies put out there by the media, esp “women’s lifestyle” magazines, without a dick like this adding to it, I wish people would accept themselves for who they are, we are all beautiful in our own way (except fer about 5% of humanity, who are just rotten and ugly from the inside out)…………wish people like this would go away, because of these people, we have 12 year olds looking like hookers, older women yo-yo dieting, men paranoid about their members, real men..yep ….me
, trying to fend off metro-sexual images of male perfection etc…..
At the end of the day………i will sum it up like this when it comes to size zero……….when at school, I never looked at the skeleton in biology and thought..”yanno, put a dress and a bit o lippy on that, and phwaorrrrrrr, not half”
He was ridiculous on BB and couldn’t hack it making veiled threats when anyone challenged him he was a particularly odious person then, I am not surprised of his views he was incredibly controlling on BB. A waste of oxygen
Thanks for stopping by and speaking up. “There is no happiness in starvation” is so true, being thin is not the answer to whatever the problem is.
If you read back far enough into Mr (for I’m to polite to type wa… nevermind) Tong’s Twitter history (about mid-November) he talks about plans for the new year to promote his Twitter account.
It seems quite likely that the whole current personna is more about self promotion than a real world viewpoint. Which really makes it worse. He seems to be looking to become the pantomime style reality show villian. (See David Van Day, Spencer Pratt etc).
Maybe he will get a spot on the next series of 71 Degrees North…. and get left there….
Perhaps that’s the worthier campaign, getting him left behind on 71 degrees north
Thanks for dropping by and commenting, it’s appreicated
I agree Katie, that is the really sad part about all of this. I hope if anyone reads this and has doubts that they talk to their doctor, a parent or a teacher.
Thanks for dropping by and the link John, it’s most helpful- thanks
In googling him I found that he encouraged his girlfriends to all have the same haircut, have it coloured blonde and lose weight. Some he even asked to get tattoos of his name on their feet! He seems a disturbed young man who projects his insecurities onto the young women in his life. I wonder what his mum thinks?
Bravo, Sarah.
What also bothers me is the insidiousness of encouraged anorexia in our culture.
The French model Isabelle Caro died of anorexia at 28 in November. She volunteered to be photographed nude as part of a billboard campaign in Italy against anorexia. The poor child looks like a concentration camp victim. Google her name and will find photos of her billboards you can use in your campaign against this monster.
Here’s one link: http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/health/2011/01/07/2011-01-07_addictions__answers_behind_the_insideous_art_of_anorexia.html
I also suggest you check out Chip and Dan Heath’s book, “Made to Stick.” They detail a campaign in a poor (African) nation (I don’t recall) where the community effectively turned around a culturally accepted and ignored practice of rich men buying sexual favors from poor teenage girls with a campaign of public embarrassment and ridicule. It worked.
Twitter can be used against Tong.
quote – “PS you may note I have no links to show you the evidence, I did that on purpose. Links will make his cause easier to be found in the search engines, something I am not happy to do.”
By happy accident I found you by the reverse method that you have noted above…
I saw his story on my homepage and googled HIM and YOUR article came up!
Spot on!
I knew of him from his reality tv stint (short as it was) and even back then I marked his card as a tosser of the first order…
Seems our Kenneth has had a way of making himself unpopular for some time – read this very interesting article here:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2010/01/19/exclusive-big-brother-babe-karly-ashworth-in-new-sex-probe-after-naked-pictures-appear-on-web-86908-21978215/
Is there any evidence this pill even exists? I cannot find it anywhere – not that I want to buy it but it all seems a bit too fake to me, especially as there does not seem to be any product.
My take – Kenneth Tong and the Fame Game – is here.
In short he’s a real life troll. And the way to deal with morons like him is not to feed the outrage. Though I fear it is too late.
Sarah, The man is clearly what the late Gary Halbert would refer to as a ‘****weazle’. Aside from the fact that no man wants to make love to a stick, anorexia is a horrible illness that affects the whole family.
I know this because when I was just 18 and working as a trainee mental welfare officer I was assigned to visit a girl of similar age each lunch time and encourage her to drink a mug of ‘Complan’. By the time we were introduced starvation had caused her to lose all her teeth. I’m saddened to write that I failed to get her to eat anything and it was a further nine years before she eventually died.
Since then I’ve met lots of families with anorexic members. There are always issues of control around, also sadness, anger and frustration. Thankfully a great deal more is known in psychology about treating the condition than was the case when I met Thelma, the girl who died.
The 1960s and ’70s were a wonderful era in which to be young, but somehow within them women, perhaps in a quest to be more androgynous or less maternal, were seduced into the idea that thin was cool.
If there’s one thing I like about the T.V. series ‘Mad Men’, which exposes just how advertising was used to dupe us into becoming consumers it is at least that the women have ‘curves’.
Tell your daughter that ‘handles never go out of fashion’.
Stephen
Interesting the likes of Cowell protest and Rihanna who are part of the industry that many argue is responsible for proliferating images of what girls should aspire to be. Granted they dont promote anorexia but they promote the body beautiful and the role of women as sex objects. Rihanna has a huge young fan base yet lots of her lyrics are sexual innuendos whilst she prances about half naked (is this a good role model? – maybe it is girl power or maybe it is using sex to sell)
Tong is no doubt a complete idiot and most likely is just being controversial for the sake of it (i cant imagine him having any pill to promote) – however there is a sort of hypocrisy in celebrities who make money and exist in a world where beauty is all that counts rallying against him (i’d call them shrewd).
yes he is a complete idiot but i cant imagine his impact apart from being a ‘village idiot’ will be more harming than those who are condemning him on the one hand and on the other hand are making a living promoting the body beautiful.
Was bored yesterday and looked at twitter for first time ever and it has amazed me really how much silliness goes on – many of those who are outraged by anorexia seem to think racism is ok because tong is chinese or heightism is ok because tong is short…they also fail to grasp that if he was totally ignored or unmentioned he would most likely disappear yet they continue to feed him the weird publicity he craves or they sort of grasp this but instead of ignoring him they have to tweet ‘ignorekennethtong’ etc. and keep it all going…need to cleanse myself with a spot of hoovering now.
Read the earlier thread – he isn’t represented by Max Clifford any more – he was only represented by him for a few months after he did Big Brother UK.
From the research I’ve done on this ‘drug’ it’s a drug that is used for asthmatic horses and is not passed for human use either in the UK or the US. Apparently it will work for as long as you use it but the chances are that it will KILL you first. DO NOT even thing about trying it Jackiee x
Why don’t you report him, I have already done this on both Facebook and Twitter for his vile stance.
I am a man, and I do not agree for one second with what Tong stands for. If Facebook and Twitter get enough reports about this indvidual then hopefully they may block him.
Amazing, isn’t it!? The sad part is that women and young girls who have a lot less confidence than you and I are secretly wishing they could drop three sizes in three weeks (or whatever else he is promoting). And sadly that is probably what is fueling him; there are enough people who want desperately what he is promoting, and not enough possessing wisdom and confidence to say enough is enough.
Well thought out and well written piece. This poor excuse of a man is just fame hungry. His bio reads “used to be on television”.. but what he fails to mention is that he was on Big Brother for all of five minutes, had to leave by the back door and was one of the most hated housemates ever. For good reason. He was, and is, a total creep.
He even thinks that the fact he is trending means he is popular. He is enjoying this new five minutes of fame.
His comments on anorexia are shameful. Encouraging youths into not eating and congratulating them if they haven’t eaten and have lost weight is shocking.
There needs to be a major boycot on this man. He needs to be suspended from Twitter so he cannot spout his poison any longer to impressionable youths, who have a tough enough time as it is. Quite what Max Clifford represents him for is beyond me! I mean, what exactly does he DO to need a publicist apart from spew poison and venom? I am surprised he was able to get his head of out of his arse long enough to have a photo taken for his profile.
Simon Cowell isn’t on Twitter it’s a fake account!