Controversial Australian fitness blogger Ashy Bines launches new programme targeting babies

Controversial Australian fitness blogger Ashy Bines is making headlines again, this time for her newly launched programme aimed at babies and children.

The personal trainer and Instagram star from the Gold Coast has launched an "edu-tainment programme" that is aimed at children as young as 12 months old. 

"Ashy and Friends" is an animated DVD series described as "a fun-packed music, fitness and education show for 1 to 6-year-olds".

The show features "Ashy", a cartoon character inspired by the fitness model and mother-of-one, along with a number of her animal friends, encouraging children viewers to do things like jump on the spot or learn how to do squats. 

"It is a highly interactive experience and will have your child singing, dancing, exercising and smiling from ear to ear," the Ashy and Friends website says.

In Australia, experts are expressing their worries over the content over the new programme and how it can impact the targeted audience. 

"I'm concerned about messaging of dieting that has behind it 'lose weight, lose weight, lose weight'. People call it health management or healthy eating but the messaging behind it is 'don't let yourself put on weight'. So there's an immediate subjectivity that if someone puts on weight that's bad and if they lose weight, that's good," Christine Morgan, CEO of The Butterfly Foundation, told Kidspot.com.au. 

Morgan believes the health messages should be aimed at parents, not at their young children. 

"Now, when you're a little person, you think in black and white. You don't think in shades of grey. You're starting to buy into a whole message that fat is bad and skinny is good and that's absolutely problematic because you can't interpret it at that age."

2_AshyAndFriends_HYPE_HD from ABBBC on Vimeo.