Macy's Pulls Stupid Fat-Shaming Plates From Stores

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By  Kate Bernot

Until yesterday, Macy's was quietly selling a line of plates at its STORY by Macy's locations; STORY offers smaller brands than the larger department stores. The plates weren't just whack because some of them contained the word "foodie"—ugh—but because one set of them was roundly criticized as fat-shaming.

Podcast host Alie Ward, who has a not-insignificant Twitter following 38,000 strong, tweeted a photo of the plates yesterday, captioned: "How can I get these plates from @Macys banned in all 50 states." It has more than 5,000 retweets. The photo shows a plate with concentric circles painted around its diameter: "Mom jeans" for the largest circle (presumably coinciding with the largest portion of food), followed by "favorite jeans" in a smaller circle and "skinny jeans" in the smallest circle.

Macy's responded last night, tweeting that the company "missed the mark on this product" and would pull it from all STORY stores. Good. Not only were the plates insensitive to both fat people and people who struggle with eating disorders, but on face they're just dumb. Who would buy these and serve their family or friends dinner atop them? How "clever" is this joke that you'd want to repeat it for multiple meals?

Not everyone congratulated Ward on the small victory. Plenty of replies on Twitter criticize her for wanting the plates pulled from stores: "How about this. Just don't buy it?" was the common sentiment. I expect this controversy, like most on the internet, will fade after 24-36 hours. But imagine being the person who feels compelled to defend your right to purchase these ugly-ass plates?

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