I think it's just something people are sensitive about, and understandably so. Most obese people (by choice; i.e. self admittedly just have a bad diet and sedentary lifestyle) I know are never really offended by memes and consistently express a desire to do better. Fact is fixing the problem is genuinely difficult once you pass a certain point, as it requires a dramatic lifestyle change. Anyone who says that is easy is full of shit.
I avoid jokes like that mostly because it feels like punching down on people who are not happy with their health/weight and struggling to fix it. Especially when it's the typical low hanging fruit, it's just not fun when the joke makes me feel like kind of an ass.
Also it's not like we're unaware of being fat. Like, no, Kevin, I don't need your terrible joke to tell me I'm overweight and should lose some weight. I own a mirror. The "let's make fun of fat people!" crowd always seem to think they're giving us some divine fucking insight.
People are shamed for smoking as they should be for its health effects on them and others. Obesity should be treated no differently. You don't get to 400lb because of a bad thyroid, you get to 400lbs because you are addicted to food and over consumption. It puts undue strain on our medical facilities, and impacts the obese indivuals ability to be a functioning member of society. There should be conversations about why it's bad. We shouldn't treat it like some innocent personal choice when it is not, it's shortening lifespans, the bad diet exacerbates mental health issues, can lead to diseases like type 2 diabetes. The problem is we don't also target the food industry as much as we should for them pushing all the sugar coated processed garbage in the first place. They should be equally as ostracized as tobacco companies are for their aid in a similar epidemic.
I didn’t quit smoking because people shamed me, I did it because the risks were clearly defined and didn’t like the negative effects on my health.
No qualified medical or public health policy professional is like “yo let’s villainize fat people”. It’s dumb idea just to make people feel better about being assholes to folks struggling.
How do you factor in the overabundance of cheap, nutritionally fucked food, and how that may affect those living paycheck to paycheck? It feels odd to recognize it's a problem, but then also claim obesity is an absolute failing that should be universally shamed.
Side note, as a nurse I've seen patients who are obese because of circumstances and medical issues. Someone who has to work two jobs, has a kid, and newly discovered hypothyroidism is not obese because they don't care. They have a medical issue and no extra time/resources to compensate for it with a refined diet and exercise (especially considering one of the most common symptoms of hypothyroidism is fatigue). You're not even factoring in the undiagnosed, or those who don't have access to sufficient healthcare.
My overall point is if you're targeting obese people specifically, you're not on the right track.
If you are going to make fun of people, do so for things that are their choice, or are changeable.
As in:
You CAN make fun of people who use Facebook, because they can choose to not.
you CANT make fun of people of a certain ethnicity because they didn't choose it and can't change it.
Making fun of obese folks is a mess because at the root of it you are making fun of a mental health condition, or a socioeconomic condition. Indeed all humans, regardless of any other factor (such as medical condition or wealth) will lose weight day after day if you consume less calories than you burn. But the reality is people can't stick to that for a million reasons, and when you make fun of the obese you are making fun of THAT. Essentially "hah to are so fucked in the head that you are trapped in an uncomfortable and unhealthy body". Not so funny when put so bluntly.