In the middle of a global pandemic, a tea-tox is the last thing on my mind

With lockdown easing, advertising companies have started using the 'June 21st is coming' approach to entice customers to buy their products. But when I stumbled upon one such ad encouraging me to buy a 14-day tea-tox, I was flabbergasted

Tea is a famous britishism, medicine and well-loved reason for a break from work.

Scrolling through my Facebook at 18:00 on Easter Sunday while nursing my food baby and comatose by chocolate eggs, I came across an ad that boiled my blood and filled me with a rage one can only describe with a high pitched, unholy screech. It was an advert for BooTea - a tea made to help you slim down.

Starting with, "Picture this, it's mid-July - social distancing restrictions have been lifted and you finally to see your friends after the longest time..." it continues hinting all your friends will be commenting, not on the joy they feel at being in your company alone for the first time in a year and a half, but on your appearance; pleading, nay, begging to know "what program or diet are you on?!" - suggesting weight loss has occurred.

This 'slimming tea' is advertised to motivate people across the world to use it as a method of loosing any extra pounds accrued for whatever reason. It harmlessly targets you via ads on either Facebook or Instagram which used to be accompanied by a shameless plug by an A-lister who definitely does not use the product in order to detox, comme Kim-K, Michelle Keegan, and Kylie Jenner, who without doubt have a PT, personal chef and manager; aka no need for a such a product. Bootea, a marvellously inventive play on the anatomical attribute which inspired one Destiny's Child hit, is said to be a 'natural cleansing tea to help you achieve your fitness goals'. Filled with natural ingredients, Bootea claims to help you lose weight in a fortnight with its famous 14-day tea-tox: spoiler, it flushes you out... not the best for your digestive system or stomach lining. And though it claims it uses no laxatives, Senna - a known natural laxative - is included in some of its teas ingredients, according to DietSpotlight.

Are your eyebrows raised yet?

Now, for one, as someone who is a fitness freak with a qualification under her belt, I cannot get onboard with a tea being the one to solve any health or fitness problems you may face - especially one at a hefty £24.99. You're much better going to Tesco and getting four packs of Pukka for a fraction of the price. Secondly, with lockdown having been a continual force in our life for nearly 13 months, gyms closed, and food being a stones throw away from the sofa, and insecurities heightened and social skills lacking, vanity will probably not be on the forefront of our minds - what with a global pandemic happening outside.

With these sorts of adverts which use size-6 models in their promotions doing the rounds in with young, impressionable girls, boys and women - their demographic - it is a pressure cooker for eating disorders to spark. Speaking to The Independent on these types of 'weight-loss' teas, Molly Forbes, a body positivity campaigner said, "It promotes unrealistic beauty ideals, a particular narrative that a healthy body only looks one way and presents diets, detox teas and ‘quick fix’ weight loss products as the answer.” Emma Whitakker is an ED survivor, and petitioner for Detox teas to be banned echoes this. On her Change.org page, she explains how "Detox teas played a role in driving my eating disorder." These tea-tox's encourage people of all ages to add this rebranded laxative to their lifestyle, she goes on to say, "It exerts insecurities about body image and is a danger to young people’s health. These teas are toxic and need to be stopped now!"

Hear, hear

If lockdown has taught us anything, it is that we must respect and love ourselves. With google searches for self-care routines increasing by almost 250% over the last year, it shows appreciating the little things helping us celebrate, well, us is vital - especially when normality is a far-fetched pipe dream and 21 June seems a million years away. Yes we are all bored of the monotony of every day life, and ordering some 'magical' weight-loss tea might help you feel a little lighter - both metaphorically and physically, but only for a short while. We have been dealing with a universal crisis this last year filled with disease, illness, job loss, loves lost, family lost and more than we should have had to deal with; we have lost a hell of a lot this year and with anxiety at an all-time high according to Professional Beauty, the pressure into thinking we need to lose any more must cease.

This is not to say they don't work. Many people have reported weight loss, and positive feelings accompanied by the words 'cleansed', and tea has been used for centuries for its medicinal values said to improve bodily ailments and the immune system. But, I think I'll stick to my local supermarkets own brand for £1.99, accompanied by a surplus of grub in which I will happily indulge.

So, to cut me off, before I get in too deep, Bootea has a nerve showing up on Facebook's news feed encouraging me to "shape up" for summer with a beverage which is 90% water, and has the potential to be harmful.

So, as I took a sip from my freshly brewed peppermint tea, I continued scrolling and scoffing and stumbled upon an ad for earrings. Now, that's more like it.