Pro-Anorexia Scales Removed From Shelves Following Public Outcry
The unfortunately named British megastore B&M has found itself in the crapper after one of its products went viral for all the wrong reasons.
According to the Manchester Evening News, the retailer has removed a £3.99 bathroom scale from its sales floor following customer complaints that it promoted anorexic behavior. Manchester resident Rachel May Shevlin — a former sufferer of anorexia — was the first to post a photo on Facebook of the offending item, which read “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” below the weight meter.
“Would anyone like to join me in writing to B&M to tell them how lovely to see the phrase I said to my teenage/young adult self that also led to me calling myself a ‘fat, disgusting waste of oxygen’ often before self-harming just because I had dinner, sold in their shops ON FRICKIN SCALES so other impressionable young minds can suffer the same self hatred? Horrible, triggering,” Shevlin wrote in a post that’s now been shared more than 2,300 times.
The scale in question. (Photo: Rachel May Shevlin)
Amazingly, B&M took notice of the outcry — and decided to actually do something about it. “We have asked our supplier to withdraw this particular quotation from this range of novelty £3.99 weighing scales,” the company commented on Shevlin’s post, before confirming to the Evening News that it would, in fact, remove the scale.
When it comes to squashing the infamous pro-eating disorder mantra — which is often (incorrectly) traced back to supermodel Kate Moss — eliminating a questionable product from a store will only go so far. An Instagram search of the #nothingtastesasgoodasskinnyfeels tag currently brings up nearly 10,700 results, whereas the alternative version — #nothingtastesasgoodashealthyfeels — has only 763 mentions.
B&M’s offering may have been ill-received this time around, but if social media is any indication, there sadly seems to still be a sizable market.
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