and not judged for something superficial. Superficial according to whom? Obviously not to the members of the board of directors. Their opinions count even if they're different than yours.

I have seen absolutely no one suggest something like that.

I dunno, read more of the comments I guess? Here's one.

I feel like you've not actually worked in many jobs before.

Your feelings are wrong.

Typically, if you treat employees in a way they feel is unjust or makes them feel underappreciated, they quit. That's a justifiable response.

So it comes down to justice, does it? This is what I meant when I said these responses were totally full of fat acceptance in disguise. I could be wrong but /r/loseit is the wrong shop for fat acceptance.

Is it unfair to be denied a promotion because you're fat? It doesn't matter because the question itself is totally irrelevant.

Being denied a promotion for any reason means one and only one thing: the people in power to give you one did not feel that your performance justifies a promotion. If physical appearance is part of that performance, then so be it.

And there are two ways to handle it: you can give up and quit, or you can improve your performance to suit the people who can give it to you. If you can't handle the idea that your company doesn't want fat people representing your brand then yes, you should quit - but that also means, as I stated, that you didn't deserve the promotion to begin with. A promotion at the level where the board of directors needs to approve it means a promotion heading toward leadership and clearly your values are at odds with the board of directors if you disagree with them about brand image. It's not a good fit.

and judged you based on something relatively meaningless instead.

No, meaningful to them. They've got the supper and they want you to sing for it. If you can't or won't, you don't get fed. Plain and simple.

It demonstrates that they probably aren't all that level-headed or practical when it comes to running a company, at least in that regard.

It demonstrates that they don't want fat people to represent their brand because they know there is a lot of discrimination in the world toward fat people that might hurt their profitability. They don't come to work to champion the fat acceptance movement. They come to work to make money. Any reason that might turn customers away from their company is a practical reason to not promote a person.

Her response is logical and common.

Her response is entirely emotional and far too common.