February 16, 2008
"Try out magic pants to hide lumps and bumps."
A clothes store company wants its sales staff to look good, but the staff is offended by the style guide. It's upsetting for the company to disclose that it thinks fat people should try to look slimmer. An eating disorder group attacks: "If you are the type of person who needs magic knickers this style guide might add to your insecurities." And the company apologizes: "On reflection, we've made a rather thoughtless mistake. What was intended as magazine-style fashion tips has caused offence which was never intended. We have withdrawn the leaflet and apologised for the error." ("Offence," "apologised"... yes, they are sensitive — and fat — in England too.)
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24 comments:
Walt Frazier, Willis Reed, DeBusschere....those were the magic Knicks....
Speaking of magic pants, here are the lyrics for "The Slacks" by Trip Shakespeare.
"Can I tell you a romantic story?
About the one-eyed lady in France
I guess the king decreed, that all the various princes
Should try to get inside her pants
So along came a St. Paul dandy
He was six and a half feet tall
He said "All the little ladies love roses"
She took the roses and that was all
The next man for the one-eyed lady
Was my dignified brother Dan
He said "Bring the little woman some kisses and attention"
She wouldn't even shake his hand
Then I moved into the picture
I was wearing these magic pants
I said "Let the blind bottom of my body do the talking"
She fell into a magic trance
I wore the pants
I said relax
We did a dance
They call the slacks
Now let me tell you the truth of the story
It was me moving in those pants
Matt said the way to her heart is through her tummy
And then he took her out to restaRANT
Could you both turn down the distortion?
Cause you know I wore the pants
You were both laid out on the floor with no protection
In a deep, dark, watery trance
I wore the pants
I said relax
We did a dance
They call the slacks"
Very worth a listen!
Trey
Reality check needed. What's wrong with wanting people to look slim? Too much fat is unhealthy, it's a sign of diminished discipline in both exercise and eating matters, and most folks don't find it very attractive to boot. Fat is bad. Slim is good. Accept it.
The Callipygian Venus is back in fashion after 30,000 years! Widen the aisles!
I clicked on the link looking for myself some magic pants. Alas, Oprah had already told me years ago go go out and buy some. I still need my trainer and gym membership. Drat.
Fat people are kind of gross.
Titus is correct. They should be killed. Or shunned.
First, the company clearly made a mistake by doing this in a way that would get back to the press and cause this negative publicity.
Second, they should quietly fire any employees who discussed this with the press, or who worked against this program in any way. These employees are under the mistaken impression that they are selling clothes. They are not. They are selling an image, and if having the employees use effective techniques to project that image, then that's well within the company's rights.
The employees were not being told to lose 10 pounds or they would be fired. As far as I can tell they were not being told to spend an unreasonable amount on a new wardrobe.
Aside from the PR screw-up, I don't see anything wrong with what the company did.
Fat people are kind of gross.
So are people with flabby arms!
There was a fat acceptance convention reported by the NY Times some time ago, with an unfortunate illustration, reported on by John and Ken
So far as I know, no Corrections and Apologies have been published for it.
The date on the audio is July 29, 1999. Though I'd guess the NYT archives don't have photos anyway.
I am at the Magic clothing show in Vegas this week, and shape wear is a multi-million dollar commodity. This is what Oprah has popularized. It's not your grandma's girdle, but rather a micor fiber garment to smoothes you out and gets rid of the fat rolls on your back. Even a size 2 will come into my wife's store and buy a Spanks to wear under her dress. So sneer all you want, but I will just sit back and count the money on selling shape wear.
Titus's comment is typical of gay men in the fashion industry. They generally hate women, but they really, really hate real women with a few pounds on them or who have a real shape.
That is why we have tried to find clothing designed by women for women, and not by gay men who's idea of a perfect sexy shape is an 13 year old boy.
But keep the nasty comments coming.
You have to be so careful with plaids.
Wear black. Orson Welles did and he looked positively svelte.
"My hog! My hog! I've lost my hog!"
The panicked fat man said.
A man who cannot find his hog
Fills Titus' head with dread.
Ah, jolly olde England again.
Whenever I see fat people with little kids my first reaction is someone actually fucked you?
I don't hate women. I love women.
I just don't care for fat people.
My real girlfriends are fabulous...and thin and gorgeous.
I am not one of those gays that have the fat girlfriend.
You know the old saying...if it wasn't for fat women gay men would have no one to dance with.
Tituspretzel said...
Fat people are kind of gross.
Absolutely. Nobody wants to see fat people. They should stay home with their blinds closed. Preferably in the closet.
Tituspretzel said...
Fat people are kind of gross.
Absolutely. Nobody wants to see fat people. They should stay home with their blinds closed. Preferably in the closet.
The worst are when you are on a plane and their fat encroaches upon you space.
These fat-acceptance advocates should get over being offended by everything and get themselves to the gym. An hour a day with free weights and they can forget about magic pants.
Rush Limbaugh is fat!
Ann, I don't think "offence" is a misspelling. It's a British variant of "offense." The same I think for "apologise."
Dustany -- that's why the last 3 words of the post are "in England too").
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