A number of parents have expressed concerns over Nintendo creating bad body images after a concerned family member complained that Wii Fit labeled her relative overweight.
"My [relative] came round this weekend and we let her play on our Wii Fit," a member of theDISBoardswrote. "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."
According to the poster, the girl in question is a healthy 4"9 10-year-old who swims, dances and weighs only six stone (84 lbs). "She is solidly built," the poster adds, "but not fat."
But she "was devastated to be called fat," the poster said, "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 they're fat."
Shocked forum users responded angrily, spurring the user on to write an email to Nintendo. At the time of writing, they have yet to reply.
On the one hand, down with negative feminine body image. On the other,the phrase"kill the messenger," comes to mind...
May 6, 2008
