Amazon Criticised For Selling Anorexia Hoodie

Eating disorders are not punchlines.

Amazon Criticised For Selling Anorexia Hoodie

by Phoebe Parke |
Published on

Amazon has been criticised heavily online for selling a hoodie that describes anorexia as ‘like bulimia, except with self control’.

People have been sharing their views about the offensive item on social media, with one Twitter user writing: ‘I’m disgusted that someone actually thought "anorexia is bulimia with self control" was a suitable hoodie slogan, so thoughtless and cruel.’

Amazon is yet to issue a statement, but has said that the hoodie is not actually for sale on their UK website, but can still be seen by shoppers.

Anorexia, where a person tries to keep their weight as low as possible, and bulimia, where a person binge eats and then tries to rapidly get rid of the food, are disorders that mainly develop among teenagers.

According to the NHS more than 725,000 people in the UK are affected by an eating disorder, and around 1 in 250 women and 1 in 2,000 men will experience anorexia at some point in their lives.

Bulimia is around two to three times more common.

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This is not the first time Amazon has been criticised for selling offensive garments, in 2013 it had a T-Shirts that read ‘Keep calm and a rape a lot,’ ‘Keep calm and hit her,’ and ‘Keep calm and grope a lot’ on sale, from external brand Solid Gold Bomb.

You might also enjoy:

Why positive reinforcement like ‘you look dangerously skinny’ only fuels anorexia

‘How competitive eating flourished in my student shared house’

The true cost of the NHS’s inability to deal with eating disorders

Follow Phoebe on Twitter @PhoebeParke

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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