Queen Latifah on Touring With 'It's Bigger Than Me'

Last October, entertainment icon Queen Latifah teamed up with pharmaceutical brand Novo Nordisk for "It's Bigger Than Me," a campaign aiming to change the conversation surrounding obesity. Through the lens of her extensive acting career, Latifah examined how obesity is often regarded as an easily preventable state worthy of shame instead of a valid medical condition that should be discussed with empathy. Leading the campaign was a series of shorts that playfully invoked recognizable genres of fiction, from the breezy sitcom to cop procedurals—all of which can be found in the performers filmography. I think people are really seeing that diversity does better business because the world is diverse. We have to have these conversations.Queen Latifah, entertainer and It's Bigger Than Me spokesperson Novo Nordisk and Latifah teamed up for It's Bigger Than Me Live, a three-city tour that kicked off on June 7 in New York and continued into Houston and Los Angeles. During these chats, the performer and campaign spokesperson would engage with doctors and health professionals on the science behind obesity along with the toll that bias and shaming have on those living with it. The event was also livestreamed on the campaign's dedicated site, making the message even more accessible to the public. Body Positivity Saves Lives. Brands Should Act Accordingly "Today, we got some really great experts who can really break it all down," Latifah told Adweek as she prepared for her Houston chat. "And I'm learning, too. I'm along this journey with everyone else." Latifah spoke to Adweek about why this face-to-face stage of the long-running campaign was so vital to humanizing obesity management. View this post on Instagram A post shared by It's Bigger Than Me (@itsbiggerthan) Adweek: When we last spoke, you were working with Nova Nordisk on a series of creative PSAs and now you're touring with the campaign. Was this always part of the plan? How did the touring aspect of all of this come about Queen Latifah: We just continue to have conversations about how we could spread the word. Touring is life, whether it's through music, through film, on a book tour or the It's Bigger Than Me tour. Taking it to the people and really bringing the message to them personally and hearing what they've experienced is important. I think a lot of people haven't understood the complexities of obesity, so being able to have experts come in and really explain it continues to remove that stigma and shame, giving you an opportunity to bring it back to health and perhaps change your life based on that knowledge. So, we want to make sure that everyone has that power. Even if it's not something that personally affects you, just changing your idea of what it is allows you to look at people with a bit more compassion. As a busy woman, you didn't have to tour. You could easily do a virtual meet, a Twitter Q&A or something else less strenuous. What does touring bring to the campaign that nothing else does? It brings me in real life. It gives us a chance to look at each other eye to eye, face to face. Fortunately, being able to sit in a room together allows us to have a safe space and it makes it more real. It's not through a computer screen, it's actually in person. It's just a little different when that happens. You don't have to come to me; I'm gonna come to you just to talk about this. And I think it hopefully drives the importance of what we're talking about. So I'm hoping that makes a difference. [There were] people who came to our New York stop who drove all the way up from Philly just to be there—that's a couple hours away. So it was important enough for them to make the trip and be in a safe space and to tell their story. It's been eight months since the launch of the campaign. Is there a particular response that has resonated with you the most since you've debuted this effort? The fact that no one has been talking about it is the biggest response for me. [When I'm] on the streets with people I run into, or my friends, they are just like, "Finally, someone is talking about this. Someone is actually having a conversation about this." Usually, we're talking about music, an event coming up or a film project. It's surprising to me how many people are hitting me up about this conversation around obesity and how it's touched their lives or their journey with weight battles or body image. I don't think it's quite as much [about] body image, because we all have our own images—it's really about the health aspects of it. The conversation surrounding obesity, body image and diet culture has changed over the years. People are noticeably more vocal about fighting back against the harmful aspects of diet culture and uplifting the evolving nature of the body positivity movement. For you and your world, how have these conversations changed? Conversely, how have they not changed? I think the part that hasn't changed is the ignorance. There's always gonna be somebody with something dumb to say, and that's not going to change because, unfortunately, there are a lot of non-evolved people out there who just choose to stay in that space. Maybe that's their only way of having a voice—through anger or negativity. But what is seen as beautiful in [certain media] and in music has been a lot different because in real life, that's not what it's really like. In real life, people who have bigger bodies still get married, have kids, get in relationships and life goes on. But if you were to believe what the media may show you, you would think it never happens. People with bigger bodies can be extremely intelligent and get the gig sometimes. But we don't see enough of that because there also are people who don't get the gig and are discriminated against. View this post on Instagram A post shared by It's Bigger Than Me (@itsbiggerthan) I think people are really seeing that diversity does better business because the world is diverse. We have to have these conversations. It's not about character flaws or willpower. It's not about body image or how you feel about yourself in the world. It is a health condition. As long as people have the knowledge, then they have the power. Nobody's telling anyone what to do with their lives. But it's really about supplying you with the information and the power to make your own decisions about life. And I don't remember a whole lot of these conversations being had 10 years ago. I love seeing all of the campaigns that show people in different bodies. That, to me, is well overdue. I've fought my whole career to make sure that this body and this face got to be in as many places as it could, because I know a bunch of people with this body and this face who need access to those things and should be on those covers or selling that product because they're the ones who are buying it. It should come in their size because they're the ones who are looking for it. This is just business. This just makes good sense. I also want people to be healthy. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that you should just do whatever you want to do and everything will be fine. I would be lying to myself and to you. But I'm also going to encourage you to join the community of It's Bigger Than Me because then we can all talk about how we've been affected in our own ways and our own journeys with it. Queen Latifah on Challenging the Stigma Surrounding Obesity for Novo Nordisk

Health and Wellness

Queen Latifah on Why She Took the 'It's Bigger Than Me' Campaign on Tour

The icon aims to humanize the topic of obesity management

Shannon Miller

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Shannon Miller