Fat Shaming Plates or Political Correctness Run Amok?

Theoldguy1

You may have seen Macy's ended up taking these plates off their shelves after people criticized them as fat shaming.






Full article:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/22/us/macys-plates-mom-jeans-trnd/index.html

Any thoughts?

kevinflemming1982

I think society is becoming overly sensitive about too many things, to be fair. Just seems like a little jokey humour plate to me.

amusedmonkey

Meh. People are chronically offended. I personally don't find this offensive (yes, I'm fat), and I suspect more than half of the loud internet voices who are virtue signaling don't really find this offensive either. I feel bad for businesses sometimes.

griffithsjackie283

It's not offensive but it's not really correct......I know lots of moms who are smokin hot!!

lauragreenbaum

Much ado about nothing....

Kathryn247

I wouldn't call it fat shaming, but I think it's a bad image for people who are already prone to undereating. You can have a whole plate of food and still wear skinny jeans - you don't have to - and shouldn't - starve yourself.

jfdi6960

Please do not look at this if you're easily offended
https://touch.adverts.ie/healthcare/world-slimming-novelty-portion-control-weight-loss-diet-plate-watcher/14448468

ceiswyn

It doesn't offend me, but it does annoy me. Purely because it's so facile and wrong. The style of jeans you can wear has very little to do with size, and a lot to do with shape.

Anyone trying to serve me off one of those plates would have to endure an hour-long rant about why I can never find jeans to fit, whatever the number my scales show.

maureenseel1984

Plus what if you're eating a "mom jeans" portion of salad vs a "skinny jeans" portion of lard. Just saying.

lovelylosses

It doesn't offend me, but it's also not particularly funny or clever and it doesn't actually make sense - wouldn't you rather wear your "favourite jeans" over your skinny jeans?

Panini911

They clearly haven't seen my dinners during weight loss phase. Usually involves one large plate and a bowl (I eat a LOT of vegetables - big volume eater).

steveko89

Rather than fat shaming I find it more problematic that these support the all-or-nothing mindset propped up by the diet/fitness industry that being overly restrictive is the only way to be skinny and therefore only way to be happy.

sardelsa

Thing is my skinny jeans, favourite jeans and mom jeans are all the same pair...

bojack5

Its a joke, not a fitness plan. To take it serious or even pretend to be offended is what the real issue is.

CSARdiver

Brilliant marketing.

ccrdragon

Just another group of people looking for an excuse to be offended.

deannalfisher

i wanna see the dad bod beer mug...

amusedmonkey

CSARdiver wrote: »

Brilliant marketing.

Unfortunately, it wasn't an attempt to rile up the crowds for the sake of marketing, they really did think they were making a light-hearted joke to hint at a real issue (portion control) without being too serious. They pulled them off the shelves as soon as people started complaining.

deannalfisher

i think i would have less issues if it were equally marketed towards men as women, but it wasn't and there is where i have issue with - its potentially exploiting a vulnerabilty that many women have about body image to make a buck (FWIW - i eat about the same amount as mom jeans but def. don't need them)

LJGettinSexy

Mom jeans come in all sizes and fit differently than skinny jeans, which comes in all sizes too, so this was an EPIC fail at humor and anything else.

amusedmonkey

deannalfisher wrote: »

i think i would have less issues if it were equally marketed towards men as women, but it wasn't and there is where i have issue with - its potentially exploiting a vulnerabilty that many women have about body image to make a buck (FWIW - i eat about the same amount as mom jeans but def. don't need them)

It's part of a collection with the same design. There was another plate in the collection that had something about men in it.

deannalfisher

amusedmonkey wrote: »

deannalfisher wrote: »

i think i would have less issues if it were equally marketed towards men as women, but it wasn't and there is where i have issue with - its potentially exploiting a vulnerabilty that many women have about body image to make a buck (FWIW - i eat about the same amount as mom jeans but def. don't need them)

It's part of a collection with the same design. There was another plate in the collection that had something about men in it.

then i have less issue with it - i still like the idea of my dad bod beer mug though

J_NY_Z

Here's a novel idea: If you don't like something, don't buy it, don't listen to it, don't watch it.

kimny72

ceiswyn wrote: »

It doesn't offend me, but it does annoy me. Purely because it's so facile and wrong. The style of jeans you can wear has very little to do with size, and a lot to do with shape.

Anyone trying to serve me off one of those plates would have to endure an hour-long rant about why I can never find jeans to fit, whatever the number my scales show.

This! My answer to the title of this thread is kind of "Why not both?"
The plates are dumb, and make a joke out of the idea that women who eat a big plate of food don't care about weight, appearance, or fashion. But to make a big deal out of it is silly, I seriously doubt a woman could manage to avoid that message in every other aspect of her life, and then finally succumb to it in the Housewares section of Macy's because of some plates

There's a "boy who cried wolf" thing going on, where people making big deals out of silly stuff like this make it harder to draw attention to legitimate areas where societal pressures, media, and government policies DO shame or discriminate. It just all gets dumped into "political correctness" and eyerolled. This one deserves the eyeroll, but yeah I'd lecture anyone I knew who bought it too

aokoye

Why is political correctness bad and what are you saying when you (general you) state that political correctness has gone too far?

I suppose the other question is what are you defining as "politically correctness"?

amyepdx

I’m not offended - it’s just stupid and sexist

MikePTY

I don't find it "offensive", but I do think that it perpetuates misleading ideas about weight loss that are damaging, particularly that to lose weight you need to only eat a small amount. It's a novelty plate, I'm not about to storm their offices over it. But I do think it's in bad taste.

Motorsheen

There are many great evils in the world; this ain't one of them.

That being said, they (Macy's or whomever it was) should be allowed to sell them if they like.
'Bad Taste' should also be protected speech.

aokoye

Motorsheen wrote: »

There are many great evils in the world; this ain't one of them.

That being said, they (Macy's or whomever it was) should be allowed to sell them if they like.
'Bad Taste' should also be protected speech.

I'm not sure how this would be related to protected speech (in the US). The US government isn't saying, "you can't say this", rather Macy's pulled the item(s). I also highly doubt that the plates would fall under hate speech (which is protected in the First Amendment regardless).

Terytha

It's not fat shaming, but it's not helpful, may be harmful to those already suffering disorders, and isn't even slightly funny.

I challenge even one person who said its "just a joke" to honestly say they even smiled at these things.

I also challenge stores to try harder.

Gisel2015

griffithsjackie283 wrote: »

It's not offensive but it's not really correct......I know lots of moms who are smokin hot!!

Thank you! I am a 75 years old grandma wearing a size 2/4 jeans (depending on the brand), but I don't wear skinny jeans because I don't like them. Those plates are stupid and not realistic.