Discount store to withdraw scales after being branded 'pro-anorexia'

LONDON -- British bargain shop B&M Bargains has said it will urge a supplier to remove a slogan after sets of "novelty" weighing scales were branded pro-anorexic on Facebook.

The scales -- which contain the slogan "nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" -- were spotted by Rachel May Shevlin, who posted a photo of the offending product and called on people to complain.

Her post gained more than 5,000 likes and 2,000 shares, prompting B&M Bargains to respond to mounting pressure.

"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," wrote Shevlin on Facebook. 

This is not the first time this particular motto has attracted criticism, however. Supermodel Kate Moss came under fire in 2009 after citing the phrase in an interview with WWD.com; something which campaigners felt could lead to more instances of eating disorders.

When asked if she had any mottos, Moss replied: “There are loads of mottos. There’s ‘Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.' That’s one of them.”

"Great idea B&M, sell a set of scales with a well-known pro-ana slogan. Fuck sake," read one comment on Facebook.

"Wow I can't believe they would put such a known pro-ana phrase on a set of scales! It's like the most irresponsible thing ever," wrote another Facebook user.

In a statement emailed to Mashable, a B&M spokesperson said: "We have asked the supplier to withdraw this particular quotation from this range of novelty £3.99 weighing scales." 

B&M Bargains did not respond to further questioning, and it remains unclear whether the product has been removed from stores.   

Eating disorder charity Beat branded B&M Bargains "thoughtless" and "irresponsible."

A Beat spokesperson told Mashable: 

Manufacturers and retailers should consider very carefully the messages they are conveying by producing and stocking such a product 

Irresponsible marketing like this can contribute to and prolong an eating disorder which affects 725,000 men and women of all ages and backgrounds in the UK, costing the economy £15.8billion every year.

Young people struggling with an eating disorder are fighting a tough enough battle as it is without thoughtless retailing such as this which can make it even harder. 

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