After coming under fire for advertising a Black Panther-inspired sweater using a white model last December, Forever 21 has been put on blast for including diet bars in its online orders for women’s clothing.
A number of customers have taken to Twitter in the past week to slam Forever 21 for sending free Atkins bars in online orders — specifically, in plus-size orders. “I went from a size 24 to 18, still a plus size girl, so I ordered jeans from @Forever21,” one customer captioned a photo of the diet bar. “Opened the package, when I looked inside I see this Atkins bar. What are you trying to tell me Forever 21, I’m FAT, LOSE WEIGHT? do you give these to NON-PLUS SIZE WOMEN as well?”
Another customer spoke out against the triggering nature of sending diet bars to someone who has recovered from an eating disorder. “So apparently @Forever21 is sending out Atkins bars with their orders,” she tweeted. “As someone who recovered from an [eating disorder], I’m finding this pretty distasteful.”
In a statement obtained by Jezebel, the clothing retailer has since apologized for “any offense” the promotion caused and said the bars were included in orders across all sizes, not just plus-size. “From time to time, Forever 21 surprises our customers with free test products from third parties in their e-commerce orders” a Forever 21 spokesperson said in the statement. “The freebie items in question were included in all online orders, across all sizes and categories, for a limited time and have since been removed. This was an oversight on our part and we sincerely apologize for any offense this may have caused to our customers, as this was not our intention in any way.”
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See some other reactions to the diet bar controversy below.
