Project Harpoon, the internet 'operation' which edits pictures of women to make them appear thinner, has had its social media pages on Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr deleted.
Claiming to promote healthier lifestyles by revealing to women what they 'could' look like if they lost weight, the project is thought to have started on 4Chan, and a subreddit called 'thInnerbeauty'.
The project's Tumblr page claimed it was also a reaction to 'skinny-shaming':
"This is a page dedicated to showing both sides of modern day beauty".
"In current societal fashion, a recent trending surge of "pro-obesity" and "fat acceptance" have paved the way for many people to renounce exercise and personal healthcare in general. This page aims to only show that being skinny is okay as well! Skinny-shaming is not okay"
Posting pictures of plus-size women having undergone 'digital liposuction', the movement's social media pages often featured celebrities, before and after the 'treatment'. Such celebrities included US model Tess Holliday, actress Melissa McCarthy and singer Kelly Clarkson.
Unsurprisingly the backlash to it was immense. Tess Holliday herself commented to US Weekly, 'I actually laughed out loud [when I saw the pictures of myself]. The versions of me smaller aren’t even anatomically correct and my limbs are all stretched out like I’m made of Play-Doh. People that do this kind of stuff will never get it. They need to work on their own issues and why they have so much hate and anger first.'
According to i100.independent.co.uk, an image which has been shared a number of times suggests the 'idea' behind Project Harpoon (which refers to a spear-like missile, the harpoon, used for catching whales) originally came in reaction to women who photoshopped video game characters to have fuller, more realistic figures.
Referring to such women as 'Tumblr fat acceptance/feminists' the post continued, 'why don't we photoshop their own photos to make them thinner, more attractive and, well, normal?'
Thankfully the project has been pretty much shut down on social media, after many users complained that the posts were in turn promoting an unrealistic idea of beauty, bullying and being used as 'thinspiration' for some women.