People are slamming Forever 21 for sending out Atkins diet snack bars with clothes

By Deputy Chief EditorJuly 24, 2019

135 2 minutes read

Forever 21 has come under fire for including Atkins snack bars in their packaging for online orders (Picture: Jam Press)

Forever 21 is facing criticism for sending out Atkins snack bars with online clothes orders.

People have taken to Twitter to share their outrage upon opening an online order to find an Atkins lemon bar included in the package.

Atkins is a low carb diet and weight loss program, and so many have raised concerns that the language associated with the product range could be triggering for those with body image issues or eating disorders.

Chloe, 21, said: It was honestly really shocking when I opened my package and saw the bar. I thought someone had dropped their snack in by mistake!

I feel like mixing the ongoing push of diet products with your fashion purchases can be really dangerous.

Forever 21 under fire for sending DIET bars to plus size customers — Customers opened their online orders to find Atkins lemon bars (Picture: Jam Press)

Online shopping is tricky because you cant try anything on first, so chances are something isnt going to fit.

I feel like having an Atkins bar sitting next to your pile of reject clothes can trigger something very negative and even dark in peoples heads.

Chloe worries about the effect the free snack bars could have on younger customers.

Im 21 now but Ive been shopping at Forever 21 since I was 13, I know they have a very large age range of customers, she explains.

So its really troubling to think of a young person, excited to receive new clothes, immediately feel like their body is not small enough for the companys standards.

an atkins lemon bar in a forever 21 order — The brand has been called fatphobic (Picture: Jam Press)

Im not sure what other message they think they would be conveying other than one of shame.

Ive seen a lot of tweets about it being in peoples orders of plus sized items, all of my clothes ordered were in the small to medium range. It seems like everyones orders are targeted.

I also think its really suspicious that there is no mentions of Atkins on Forever 21s website, and I was not able to find any word of a partnership online. It seems like someone at the company knows that this was a bad idea.

On Twitter, Forever 21 has been accused of being fatphobic and harmful.