Does anyone else find this disgusting and offensive?

[Asparagus Queen]

Asparagus Queen - I take a bit offense at your statement of pop making people unhealthy and overweight. I don't LIKE the taste of tea, and drink pop, but the only health risks I face are inherited, like epilepsy. Pop isn't doing a think about that.

Maybe my wording was bad, but pop/soda IS bad for you. It's full of sugar, caffeine, and a bunch of chemicals/etc that are not good for you. There's a reason why dentists don't like people drinking it, why doctors tell you to cut down on it, and why many schools aren't allowing it to be sold in vending machines anymore. Pop/soda is unhealthy for people.

[psyco_chick32]

Asparagus Queen - I take a bit offense at your statement of pop making people unhealthy and overweight. I don't LIKE the taste of tea, and drink pop, but the only health risks I face are inherited, like epilepsy. Pop isn't doing a think about that.

Maybe my wording was bad, but pop/soda IS bad for you. It's full of sugar, caffeine, and a bunch of chemicals/etc that are not good for you. There's a reason why dentists don't like people drinking it, why doctors tell you to cut down on it, and why many schools aren't allowing it to be sold in vending machines anymore. Pop/soda is unhealthy for people.

I won't argue that. But I really hate the implication that anybody who drinks pop/doesn't drink tea is/will be fat... and, in the case of this thread, fat means ugly. It's important to remember that everybody is different in many, many ways. I may drink horrible, evil, brain-and-teeth-rotting pop, but I eat a healthy diet of veggies, meat, and fruits. Maybe Neopets should focus on THAT aspect of health.

[Cerise]

Pop vs. tea aside, it rubbed me the wrong way to see that the overweight girls were dirty, messy, and generally gross, while the skinny girls were pretty and well put together. On a site with their messageboards filled with young teens asking "Am I fat?? Im 5'4 and 90lbs." or "Stay out fatties!" the game seems in poor taste. Im not offended by it, though some are, but it still makes me raise a brow and wonder why the game is even there on such a subject sensitive site. Fat/skinny boards are discouraged elsewhere, and TNT flip over a passing mention of the President or some famous star being hot.

[psyco_chick32]

Pop vs. tea aside, it rubbed me the wrong way to see that the overweight girls were dirty, messy, and generally gross, while the skinny girls were pretty and well put together. On a site with their messageboards filled with young teens asking "Am I fat?? Im 5'4 and 90lbs." or "Stay out fatties!" the game seems in poor taste. Im not offended by it, though some are, but it still makes me raise a brow and wonder why the game is even there on such a subject sensitive site. Fat/skinny boards are discouraged elsewhere, and TNT flip over a passing mention of the President or some famous star being hot.

*applause* To tell the truth, I hadn't played the game before, and I just finished... and I have to say I'm fairly appalled. I mean, yeah, I've seen worse. But TNT cracks down on so much, they claim that harrassment is so bad, and then put up a game that will back up those "stay out fatties" boards to noooo end.

[MatrixEquestrian]

I think it's inappropriate for a sponsor game, and does need to be reworded and the graphics modified.

I think it is rude to imply that larger people are ugly and unhealthy when there are people in this world that cannot help but be larger for any number of uncontrolable reasons (health and genetic issues being the main ones).

I also think it's inappropriate to imply that one single sponsor company is the key to making yourself healthy, skinny, and happy. Now if they wanted to make a similar game about catching veggies and dodging candy that would be great.

The graphics need to go. The game could still get the message across, be effective, and fun without the girls magically getting skinnier, better kept, and "happier". Skinny does NOT = happy and chubby does not equal miserable and unkept. That is the message they are sending with those graphics and it's wrong and totally unnecessary to the game.

There are too many things in life that try to get the message to girls that skinny=happy, pretty and "cool" for us to need another that's so brutally obvious. There are enough eating disorders in young girls as it is.

Also note that they are all female....not that I'm surprised. Most advertizing of this type is aimed at females. As if guys don't need to eat healthy or something *rolls eyes*

[stampsyne]

I believe that the focus should have been on it being healthier. I would have also felt better if at least one of the characters was male.

Aside from the obvious "wrongness" of it, I have to laugh at the lack of subtlety.

[thelilbear]

Being thin, for the most part, does make you pretty, or at least prettier. After all, most girls ARE happier when they are thin, and think they are prettier, which they are. I think it's perfectly fine to show a health food product making you healthier. Besides, they're trying to sell a product. Drinking tea doesn't make girls that much prettier, and drinking beer doesn't cause mobs of scantily clad women to appear.

heh. Not all girls are happier when they are thinner, because then we have to worry about STAYING thin, which is just as bad.
And I've had friends who were perfectly pretty at 130, but lost too much weight and looked worse at 110. So skinny doesn't automatically equal prettier.

[Daze]

Does anyone here who have made comments that there is nothing wrong with the game have children?

Have any of you got young daughters?

I can't see how anyone that has a young daughter would find it an appropriate message to be telling them - thinner and prettier by drinking one product. What happened to the eat healthy and in moderation and get exercise?

Remember anorexia and bulimia are diseases created by this society. This society that rams down our childrens throats that slimmer is prettier.

And why is it aimed only at girls - why isn't a male figure included? It is once again a stereotype - girls have to be slim an pretty, but boys don't.

Drinking 1 particular product will neither make you thinner or prettier. It is a gross misrepretation of a product as well as shoving an unreal expectation onto impressionable young girls.

To be thin is not to be pretty. The two do not go hand in hand.

To suggest that fatter people are unhygenic, messy and not as pretty is so obsurd and steeped in discrimination that I find it appalling that people in the 21st Century still think that way.

To find this game funny shows me that many of you out there do not know first hand how dangerous this message is.

Yes, I know it is a game, but the message is still there. It is rammed right in your face - the girls get fatter, uglier and messier. That is not a truth.

The last thing I have problems with - the "about" button on the game does not have any information. I cannot find out in english what this product contains. How do any of us know if this product is indeed healthy. If it is Tea, then it will contain caffeine, which is not healthy for you.

[yvonne_l_d]

It sounds like the marketing campaigne is coming from the producers of "Le Tea". Maybe in Japan, this kind of advertising is not considered offensive? (Obviously, I'm speaking without knowing much about Japan. If somebody here is from Japan maybe they will have a better insight.)

At any rate, even if that particular game was targetted at certain users, anybody can provide feedback. If anybody was offended at this, I'd suggest sending a feedback form about it. Let then know that you disapprove of games that label "pretty" people as better than other people.

[mercurius]

I think perhaps since it is an asian-marketed beverage, the words might have gotten lost in translation. Either way, the tea looks rather yummy.

[background_noise]

Lost in translation, maybe. That puts a nice face on it, anyway.

I want TNT to change the wording, too. Is somebody doing a petition, or a letter-writing campaign to TNT? What's the most respectful and most effective way to phrase it?

[octochan]

In my experience, bottled tea can be just as sugary as your average soda. I haven't tried that particular brand, but no matter how many bioflavonoids or antioxidants or whatever might be in it that's good for you it's got - it's still full of sugar. I'll bet you Le Tea won't be any different.
And I'm almost surprised that this kind of negative body image propaganda was allowed to be in a game on Neopets, with all its strict rules about the topics one isn't allowed to discuss on the boards. Then I realized Le Tea is a sponsor, and maybe the people who are contributing to TNT paycheques are permitted a few more liberties when it comes to taboo subjects.

[Kess]

I think staying in the house all day playing silly flash games and then complaining about it is probably less healthy than drinking either soda or tea.

[twinklyspangle]

Asparagus Queen - I take a bit offense at your statement of pop making people unhealthy and overweight. I don't LIKE the taste of tea, and drink pop, but the only health risks I face are inherited, like epilepsy. Pop isn't doing a think about that.

About the statement - I don't really like it - but then again, I'm an avid pop drinker and still waaay below the "average" weight for my age - I think it's very inaccurate to say that drinking pop makes you "fat" and "ugly" and think it's a very narrow viewpoint for people to have. There are a lot of other factors that go into weight and whether or not somebody is pretty, not just what they drink.

I also agree that having the statement "Thinner and Prettier" IS offensive... within this context. In Neopets, a statement should not be worded like that. Yes, older people know that models are photoshopped and usually plastic, but the younger crowd may not. Neopets doesn't need to enforce the image that girls are prettier when they're skinner.

Do you know how many calories and sugar are in fizzy drinks? It's no OFFENSIVE, it's true. Pop is BAD for you. It rots your teeth, prevents good digestion and contains more calories than some sandwiches.

[stampsyne]

So the game rewards you for (literally) avoiding sodas. Ok. Soda does have a lot of 'empty calories' and should be an indulgement in a healthy diet. My dinner last night was accompanied by a soda. I admit that the soda had twice as many calories as my dinner. Avoiding soda was not part of the game that was in debate, but there is several implications made by the game.

Sadly, it also punishes you for missing thier product.