Even though we live in an age where fashion designers and clothing lines are embracing body positivity , we still have a long way to go when it comes to promoting healthy lifestyles.
A recent Twitter thread about a new line of “portion” plates at Macy’s highlighted how we need to be mindful of our language, even for something that was originally meant as a cute joke .
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Even though many brands have taken steps towards promoting body positivity, there are still a ton of messages out there telling women how they should look.
These reminders that tell women to lose weight and promote an idealistic vision of beauty can be found in unexpected places.
That’s exactly what happened to podcast and television host, Alie Ward.
Alie shared an image of these “portion” control plates on her Twitter after spotting them at a Macy’s store.
As you can see, one of the plates had three circles: the smallest one labeled “skinny jeans”, the middle-sized one labeled “favorite jeans”, and the largest circle was labeled “mom jeans”.
Clearly, the message of the plate was that if you stuck to the smaller portion, you’d be able to fit into your skinny jeans.
The design was likely met as a joke, but many did not find it funny.
Another user on Twitter commented saying that the message of the plates promoted eating disorders.
Many people who struggle with eating disorders become obsessed with portion sizes and will follow unhealthy restrictions to try and maintain their ideal body type.
What’s even worse is that there was a whole line of these plates with equally problematic messages.
Another design paired the phrases “Feed bag” and “Feed me” together and there was one specifically for men that said “Man overboard” and “Manicotti”.
One Twitter user shared her “fixed” image of the plates.
She replaced the portion labels with the positive phrases “You are great!” and “Enjoy your meal!”
Since Alie’s tweet went viral, Macy’s has responded to the controversy.
The company agreed with Alie that they “missed the mark” and plans on pulling them from shelves.
People have praised Alie and Macy’s for taking action against a hurtful message.
Eating disorders continue to be a real problem for many women and men in this day and age, and many people know how even simple “jokes” like these plates can fuel those disorders.
