May 19th, 2008
Nintendo Apologizes After Wii Fit “Fat” Comment
By Michael Santo
Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
Eating disorders among teens are on the rise, and as such, you don’t need to make them think they are obese unnecesssarily, do you? Criticism has arisen, and Nintendo has been forced to apologize, after its Wii Fit game called a ten-year-old “fat.”
On DISBoards.com, a parent described the incident:
We have all laughed and joked about being told that we’re fat and need to lose weight but I was gobsmacked when it told her that she is overweight. She is a healthy 10 year old girl with an active lifestyle, she swims and dances every week. She is 92lbs and 4ft9″ tall and there is not an inch of fat on her. She is solidly built but not fat. She was devasted to be called fat and we had to work hard to convince her that she isn’t. I know it is just a game but seriously we already have to worry about young girls starving themselves to look like the magazine models and now we have a game that tells them their fat.
Nintendo was immediately assailed as, rightly, it was pointed out that BMI measurements for children aren’t accurate. In fact, there are reasons that a BMI measurement may not be accurate for certain adults, as well.
A Nintendo statement said:
Nintendo would like to apologize to any customers offended by the in-game terminology used to classify a player’s current BMI status, as part of the BMI measurement system integrated into Wii Fit.
Wii Fit is still capable of measuring the BMI for people aged between two and 20 but the resulting figures may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups due to varying levels of development.
Well, it’s good to get all the controversy out of the way before the U.S. launch, right?
LZW says:
Children suffer from hyper-sensitivity because of peer pressure in public school system. This little girl was upset that a video game called her fat because she realized what would happen if just one school mate also called her fat! (if the game could do it, another kid could do it also)
Lets see it as a 10 year old girl…
Kid calls you fat, you go home and come back to school the next day… Now 10 kids say you’re fat! One more day, and it’s 100 kids. The whole school says you’re fat before the end of the week, regardless if it’s true or not!
The only way to stop this is from the first kid that says you’re fat, get real upset and do something about it so no other kids will say you’re fat.
The social hierarchy of the public school system works a lot like the criminal justice system… Once you’re caught committing a crime, you’re in the system and the #1 suspect for all other crimes from then on.
OK, I’m joking around but lets be serious now…
10 year old girls need not read fashion model magazines because they are to young to be fashion models. They will not be influenced by them if they do not read them! Parents don’t let kids read porno magazines so it is up to them! Most fashion model magazines also have nudity and that’s why 10 year old girls are to young to be fashion models.
May 20th, 2008 at 12:03 am