GameStop Offends Fatties With Wii Fit Promotion

[Jumplion]

While the "don't end up like me" shirts may have overdone it much (something like "Get in shape with Wii Fit!" or something), then....well, actually I think if they avoided the "don't end up like me" t-shirts then this would be fine.

Fat people know they're fat, I'm starting to gain a few extra pounds myself and I need to hit the gym. Most "fat people" won't be offended by this (if they hadn't put the stupid "don't end up like me" shirts) since they know they need to lose weight. Wii Fit would get them interested in losing weight while having fun (provided the staff arn't being retarded and just saying "Wii Fit is a fun way to lose weight" and the like).

Though obviously, because it's GameStop of course it's going to get flak. Personally if I saw this at my Gamestop I'd be laughing with them. A bunch of guys in fat suits wobbling around in a gaming store would be quite an interesting sight to say the least. I could imagine that some "fatties" would be offended, but I really can't see to many people being completely "OMG YUR AGNST FUTTIES!" (unless, of course, the never had the damn "don't end up like me" t-shirts!)

 

[fletch_talon]

If you are a fattie you have 2 options:
1. lose weight
2. get terrorized by people

fatties have a choice of looking like they look now, amking fun of em isnt bad, unlike making fun of somone who isnt responsible for his looks.

So what is the difference? If you are fat, loose weight and you wont get terrorized by people like me (also you would live longer and more healthy)

Well, yeah. Or people could just stop being fucking cunts.
But that's a lot like trying to play basketball with the Sun, now isn't it.
Personally, I'm not overweight. It still bothers me that it's okay to make fun of one group, but not another.
"Man, them gays, they sure do suck a lot of cock." - Banned from life.
"Hahaha look at the fatties!" - Totally cool.
I see an inherent problem here.

Gays - Cannot change sexual preference (please don't argue with this, I can only handle so much stupidity in one day and I have to work today so no doubt I'll get my fill there)
Fat people - Have numerous ways in which to lose weight

Gays - Are not endangering their health through their lifestyle (provided they're safe and sensible but that goes for straight couples too)
Fat people - Risk of numerous diseases (heart disease, diabetes, etc.) increases, whilst mobility, energy and the ability to attract the opposite sex decreases.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Why it's hard for an overweight person to lose weight...

1) People in the gym are mean as fuck, they laugh at you.
2) People on the street are mean as fuck, they laugh at you.

So... you go to the gym, get made fun of for being a fatty working out, go for a run, people laugh at you for being a fatty working out.

I know all the people under 20 won't understand this but...IT'S FUCKING HARD TO LOSE WEIGHT, I'm only a bit overweight myself, but it's damn hard to lose this stuff once it's there. I barely have any time to myself as is. Pack in the fact that food is one of the few things you can enjoy at work that relieves stress and bam, think about it.

Keeping in shape is like a second job, a job I don't want. Granted I don't get ostricized for my weight, I just look in the mirror and dispair. Similarly if you have a good metabolism... shut the hell up, we can't all burn calories by eating you know.

I have a few extra pounds, myself (I'm not Jabba the Hut or anything, but I could lose maybe 40 pounds.) My friend actually has the nerve to COMPLAIN about his fast metabolism, talking about how he needs to gain weight... Punk.

Don't worry, fast metabolism people... Your day will come. Probably in about ten years.

Yeah, it can be tough to lose the weight. Still, I'm of the opinion that a lot more people need to just make the effort. I've got a lot of overweight (I mean REALLY overweight) relatives, and that's actually gonna end up shortening their lives. That's not cool.

And I do think it's a bit different from making fun of somebody's skin color, as others have said. There's nothing a black/white person can do to not be that skin color (barring Michael Jackson's horrible attempt to change races), but fat people can work up some courage and go out to exercise. Even if they can't lose WEIGHT, they're replacing the fat weight with muscle weight. If gyms don't work, there's always martial arts dojos, swimming, sports (with the family if they don't like other people-I know I don't.)

I'm just saying that fat people at least have an out. It can't truly be racism unless the thing in question can't be changed. A fat person doesn't base their identity or heritage on their fatness, and I don't think most people who are fat want to stay that way. Yeah, this GS thing is over the line, but I still think more people need to make an effort. I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about the 500-pound guys that always walk really slowly in narrow hallways when I'm late to be somewhere.

 

[fletch_talon]

No, I agree. I'm not one of the crazy religious extremists who think that the Earth is only a few thousand years old, and that gays are just being gay for the hell of it.
It was just an example, though. Like someone else pointed out, there are extenuating circumstances in some cases.
More than that, though, I think that protecting one group from mockery while openly making fun of another is a bit hypocritical.

Fair enough, I can understand where you're coming from, to be honest I don't think insulting fat people is going to make them want to change, its more likely to leave them depressed and they'd probably turn to food for comfort.

It was more the comparison between homosexuality and obesity that I felt the need to argue with, I spose something like smoking or alcohol addiction would make a better comparison. Both are harmful (at least in excess) and in both situations it is possible to change... but its hard. And having someone come up and tell you that you're a loser because you're smoking is going to make you lean on your crutch even more.

 

[fletch_talon]

I wouldn't bring up religion too much if I were you, its not reallya valid argument since I think its a load of crap. Don't get me wrong, I don't know if there's a god or not, and I think to claim that there definitely is or isn't is ridiculous. Unfortunately religion removes freedom of choice and the ability to think for one's self, its not always the case, but when you ask someone why they believe something and all they can come up with is "my religion told me so" then we have a problem.

I will ridicule people who believe homosexuals are evil, and people who claim I'm going to hell because I don't agree with their beliefs and even people who think that their claims of "I feel that I am right and my god exists" are any more valid than the next religion's claims.

Basically if the behaviour hurts yourself or others then I'm not gonna go crazy defending you when someone makes fun of you. In saying that when I see things like this I generally feel the need to help said person, so I personally won't insult fat people because it'll make matters worse, and even in regards to religion I try to communicate intelligently with someone until they stick their fingers in their ears, at which point I will laugh at them and point out the gaping flaws in their beliefs.

Unfortunately by that point they've got their fingers in their ears and can't hear me, oh well.

 

[soulasylum85]

ok yea not a smart marketing idea but if you are fat 95% of the time its your own fault. so if you get offended when people make fun of you maybe u should spend more time exercising and less time complaining. o yea and when will the politically correct assholes realize that being offensive is funny?!?!

 

[Zer_]

Unfortunately religion removes freedom of choice

Religion is a choice. Any freedom it removes is also removed by choice implicitly by way of the original choice to subscribe to that religion and not another one, or none at all.

Basically if the behaviour hurts yourself or others then I'm not gonna go crazy defending you when someone makes fun of you.

Really? See, I find that to be a big difference in judging someone, whether they hurt others or only hurt themselves. Then again, maybe I'm a bigger fan of freedom of choice than you are ;-D

Of course that is until you discover that you can't drink alcohol, watch movies or do other things if you choose to follow some religion. Most people who follow a religion only follow certain parts of whatever religion that they find convenient, the rest they simply say "I'm not a devout follower, so I don't have to do these things." What a load of bovine scat.

 

[fletch_talon]

Unfortunately religion removes freedom of choice

Religion is a choice. Any freedom it removes is also removed by choice implicitly by way of the original choice to subscribe to that religion and not another one, or none at all.

A newborn child does not choose to be born into a christian family, it also does not then choose to be told from that day onwards that it will be disowned by its family if it ever believes something other than what it is told. This is an extreme example, but I've had a friend who was a Jehova's Witness, and there was no way in which she was ever going to believe anyhting other than what she was brought up to believe, because the religion was more important to her mother than she was, its called excommunication and it is in effect forcing religion on someone. Yes some people stray from religion anyway, some even stray and then return because that religion make sense to them, but if you really believe that children born into extremely religious families like this have much of a choice, then you're fooling yourself.

Basically if the behaviour hurts yourself or others then I'm not gonna go crazy defending you when someone makes fun of you.

Really? See, I find that to be a big difference in judging someone, whether they hurt others or only hurt themselves. Then again, maybe I'm a bigger fan of freedom of choice than you are ;-D

Pain, suffering, harm, are all the universally language of "you are doing something stupid". Unfortunately I have a bad habit of wanting to help people whether they want it or not, and I'll admit its silly, but its who I am, unfortunately I can't look at a person who's banging their head rather hard against a wall and think "at least they're not hurting anyone else", if anything my first thought would be "they must be mentally challenged I better help them before they do more permanent damage".

Also as I've mentioned elsewhere, actions which immediately only hurt you can have an effect on others down the line, its probably a bad example, but we don't accept pregnant women smoking because it harms the child, and now they're thinking of making it illegal to smoke with children in a car.

 

[mattttherman3]

I once was walking home from the gym, a bunch of girls in a car drove up beside me and yelled: "Weight Watchers!" At least a fat suit is funny.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

Gays - Cannot change sexual preference (please don't argue with this, I can only handle so much stupidity in one day and I have to work today so no doubt I'll get my fill there)
Fat people - Have numerous ways in which to lose weight

And I do think it's a bit different from making fun of somebody's skin color, as others have said. There's nothing a black/white person can do to not be that skin color (barring Michael Jackson's horrible attempt to change races), but fat people can work up some courage and go out to exercise.

...

I'm just saying that fat people at least have an out. It can't truly be racism unless the thing in question can't be changed.

People can change their religion a lot easier and faster than they can change ANYTHING else about themselves--just get a cleric to pour some water on your head--yet we consider religion an impermissible basis on which to judge people.

When did the idea come about that we should judge people on the basis of everything but indelible characteristics? Why did MLK's message of having a dream that people would "not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character" become a message about acceptable vs. prohibited forms of judging people based on how they look, and not about judging people based on *character*?

We don't judge people by the color of their skin just because it's wrong to do so--we don't judge them by the color of their skin because there's a much *better* way to judge people: the content of their character. Where did the idea come from that the point is to wallow in prejudice as long as it's not prejudice based on indelible characteristics, and not to rise up to the higher, more rational behavior of looking past appearance to character itself?

My point is that people who are fat shouldn't expect preferential treatment or assume they exempt from being made fun of. I'm often mocked for my religious ideals, and I could change them if I wanted to not be mocked. Likewise, fat people can go lose some weight if they want to not have insensitive people make fun of them from time to time.

I do agree that people should be dealt with equally and fairly, and judged by their character. However, the current trend in society has been for people to claim "discrimination" in order to obtain special privileges. Besides, weight is often not hereditary. If it isn't, the weight itself becomes an aspect of that person's character, does it not? How did they become fat? What aspects of their personality led to this? Do they have an addictive personality?

There's also the matter of health to consider. It just isn't at all healthy to be fat, and exhorting somebody to lose weight is not AT ALL like telling somebody not to be black, or gay, or even Christian/Atheist (the two are being grouped together because they're the most common belief groups on The Escapist). Christians/Atheists do not have a shorter lifespan than other religions (In general. I'm well aware there are some religions in other nations where people eat very healthy food and exercise a lot, but I don't think the religion itself is prolonging life.)

It seems like most of your posts recently have been in the interest of creating controversy or implying racism where very little actually exists. I'm wondering if perhaps this trend is brought on by feelings of cultural guilt/entitlement?

Were these GS people wrong to do what they did? Maybe. Forcing employees to make fun of fat people is wrong, but as far as the actual acts goes... Well, it's their business. If they want to possibly lose a large group of loyal shoppers (unlikely, because people who game a lot avoid GS if they're smart) it's their call to make.

Maybe we should blame Nintendo for making products that imply people who are overweight need "fixing."

Those intolerant racists.

 

[Samurai Goomba]

I do agree that people should be dealt with equally and fairly, and judged by their character. However, the current trend in society has been for people to claim "discrimination" in order to obtain special privileges. Besides, weight is often not hereditary. If it isn't, the weight itself becomes an aspect of that person's character, does it not? How did they become fat? What aspects of their personality led to this? Do they have an addictive personality?

Does any of that even come close to justifying the way fat people are dealt with? I mean, how do you get fat?

A) Eat too much
B) Exercise too little

In a world of rapists, thieves, murderers, and people who are...even just rude to strangers, where do those two things rank? It's not asking for a "special privilege" to ask to be treated "equally and fairly."

There's also the matter of health to consider. It just isn't at all healthy to be fat, and exhorting somebody to lose weight is not AT ALL like telling somebody not to be black, or gay, or even Christian/Atheist.

Sure--and the day we treat people who go tanning on the beach anywhere close to the same way we treat fat people, that will be the day we're treating this as simply a health issue, and not a moral issue.

Today is not that day.

It seems like most of your posts recently have been in the interest of creating controversy or implying racism where very little actually exists. I'm wondering if perhaps this trend is brought on by feelings of cultural guilt/entitlement?

First off, I'm not the one who brought up race. Other people brought up race and said "that's different because you can't change your race."

Which lead to me responding. It's a trend brought on by the fact that people act less-than-rational when it comes to many topics. That people say things like "you can't discriminate on the basis of things you can't change" which totally ignores the fact that we generally consider religious intolerance to be on the same low level of behavior as racism.

Or they find an inch of ground on which to justify different, less positive treatment, and the proceed to endorse the kind of treatment that you need a mile of ground to justify, like public humiliation. Or they bring up the health issue while they would never ridicule someone with a trim, suntanned body to nearly the same extent. They claim it's all about health, yet treat other risk factors in an unequal fashion.

It's not my fault that I'm smart enough and have thought about the issues deeply enough that I cause controversy where very little exists by brining up important points no one else has thought about. If anything, I should be admired for doing so, shouldn't I?

Well, I guess I don't really disagree... I just hate to see fat people who won't lose the weight because of laziness griping about how they should get more stuff (money, respect they haven't earned) because they're fat and lazy. I'm not saying most fat people are that way, it's just a trend I've observed among people who consider themselves in the "minority."

Oh, and I HATE looking at somebody who is really tan. I actually would ridicule a really tan person close to as much as a really fat person. They're going to ruin their skin in maybe twenty years, and they look like pieces of leather. Eww. There's also nothing quite as disgusting as a really, really tan 60+ year-old man or woman. As far as looks discrimination goes, however, what can you do? Everyone falls victim to it eventually, and you'll never truly get rid of that kind of discrimination.

I think it's funny that you mentioned religious intolerance being treated as a big deal. I must have the wrong religion, because I can't go maybe three days without seeing a topic here full of people ignorant of my religion who can't wait to verbally tear it (and people who believe it by extension) to shreds. I often carefully avoid mentioning what religion I am, simply because a lot of people would rather attack that than respond to my arguments. I guess it depends, as always, on the religion. Buddhism and general spirituality seem to be the "slim, suntanned people" of religions at the moment.

But hey, Gamestop is Gamestop. Did we really expect any better of them? I'm surprised the employees even agreed to this. GS is notorious for making employees do horrible and borderline illegal things, so can this really be surprising? Once I heard about Comdata, I knew GS was beyond help.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

Ok, I'm fat because I'm lazy and eat what I like instead of what I should.

Still, does it mean I should get abuse?

I'm realising I'm opening myself up to a tidal wave of 'yes' now, heh.

But, is there nothing about yourself that you don't want people to pink up on and use to abuse you?

I'm not making this a discrimination issue, more a 'do we have to drop to the level of abuse to sell stuff' issue.

Also, the stereotypical gamer is a cheeto stuffing guy on the couch 23 hours a day playing halo, what ad exec thought making fun of them would be a great sales idea?

Us fat guys n girls, we know we're fat, we really don't need people shouting across the street to let us know. Sure it's self inflicted in the main, but I don't think it means it is ok to abuse people for it, in the way that I don't think it's ok to make fun of goths n emos, because of how they choose to look. Chavs are another thing as you're choosing to make yourself look like a dimwitted criminal sociopath, and if you choose to look like that you need a kicking. Now there's some exercise I could get into!

Also, in terms of the current media attention on the overweight in the UK, if you're all really lucky, I'll be dead by the time I'm 50, and not costing the NHS a penny more, all the yoga posturing, tofu eating fuckers are going to live to 120 and bankrupt the country with 60 years of pension payments and a new hip every 10 years.

I just think as a fat guy, I'm by far not the worst of the world's problems and don't need the grief. btw, I don't encourage anyone to be unhealthy, overweight or unfit, I am and it's not fun. I just don't need people telling me I'm fat, I notice every day.

 

[DoomyMcDoom]

I'm a tad bit overweight myself... not morbidly obese... but not a slim character either. i get labeled as a fatty cuz i have a bit of a gut. and i find it saps alotta my motivation to even bother. maybe because people made fun of me and ridiculed me for alot of other reasons even when i was in ok shape... really makes you feel worthless though and that is what this is about i think, though yeah it seems funny and harmless, and for the most part it is, some people find it offensive, and as far as i'm concerned there are people who will be offended 'cuz you run "differently" or you have a "Weird" accent. it's all personal opinion, still not nice to ridicule people for being overweight since all you're doing is essencially saying "Your worthlsess, you aren't the same as "us" and deserve to be shown as a lesser person for it"...

/end rant