Wii Fit to pre-teen: You're fat
Wed May 21, 2008 11:21AM EDT
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In a world of glossy magazines showing us rail thin models who subsist on a diet of lettuce and vodka, do we really need video games telling impressionable young children that they're fat?
Nintendo is being lambasted over its hot new Wii Fit "balance board," which has labeled a 10-year-old-girl as "fat" according to its expert analysis. The UK girl, reportedly 4 feet, 9 inches tall, weighs six stone, or about 84 pounds, according to her stepfather. If those figures are true, that would give her a Body Mass Index of a mere 18.2, which actually falls into the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute's "underweight" category (though I suspect the real figures are a little different). The worry isn't that she's unhealthy but rather that the device has given her an incorrect and damaging opinion of her health and self-image, one that her parents will now have to work double-time to correct.
At least one group, the UK's National Obesity Forum, is calling for the game to be banned from being marketed to children, saying that BMI "should simply not be used" for growing kids whose bodies are rapidly changing from day to day.
Nintendo has apologized, mainly for using the term "fat" in the game, but says it stands by the BMI measurement, saying only that it "may not be entirely accurate for younger age groups." The company says it will not add a warning of any kind to the device, however. Presumably, it's not going to come up with another word for "fat," either.
Comments on Wii Fit to pre-teen: You're fat
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2 Posted by theloserchronicles on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse
It's a good thing people like me are capable of recognizing the influence of the media in today's society and can steer aware from becoming a victim of marketing. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go listen to some music on my Ipod while I drink a Pepsi and watch some television on my new Sony HDTV Flat screen...
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3 Posted by m_knopp on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:32PM EDT Report Abuse
So let me see if I understand this. A national obesity forum is trying to get a video game which encourages something other then sitting on the couch and pushing buttons banned because it might hurt some kid's self esteem? That is the dumbest thing that I have ever heard. The Wii Fit might have prevented thousands of weight related issues in some people, but because it uses the word fat we need to ban it. Because obviously it is better to have good self-esteem (as defined by external factors like computers) and be fat then to be healthy with a self-esteem that you perhaps built internally through hard work.
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4 Posted by nolo_8 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:40PM EDT Report Abuse
Oh gee, here come the PC people causing an uproar over nothing. I guess you can't call ANYONE fat these days.
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5 Posted by supertongue_comics on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:49PM EDT Report Abuse
Funny story. Really, who would actually take "comments" from this game seriously? Sure, it does help you become "fit," but it is first a video game, not a gym. She needs to deal with it or she'll be in for some trouble when she gets into high school. If this girl takes this seriously, then she'll be anorexic in a few months after she reads some teen magazines today...
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6 Posted by rogueist on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:49PM EDT Report Abuse
Unfortunately some kids have already been traumatized by this game and believed that they were overweight and started starving themselves and other things. It needs to be banned. It doesnt work right.
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7 Posted by apokid@sbcglobal.net on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:57PM EDT Report Abuse
People today give into peer pressure WAY too easily. I feel there should always be a warning when it comes to BMI that muscle mass and age can mess up whether the machine says your fat or not. But seriously, I think the problem here is the people, not the machine.
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8 Posted by gooddayz39 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:11PM EDT Report Abuse
If i am fat will I still be able to goto the moon??
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9 Posted by kendall_chong on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:49PM EDT Report Abuse
Gee if I was traumatized by every email saying that I am "small" I don't think I would ever be able to talk to women. It also sounds like the parents don't want to admit that maybe (just maybe) they are the ones with the problem?
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10 Posted by superdorkwad on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:48PM EDT Report Abuse
First of all this Artical is complete Rubbish. The game uses the terms Overweight and Obease. NOT FAT. THEY NEVER CALLED ANYONE "FAT"!!!! These are the BMI standard terms. Author of article is a tard.
1 Posted by cuplacaiazzas on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:32PM EDT Report Abuse
There are a couple things to remember here. First is that the Nintendo is a computer that is telling you this information, so it needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Second, Wii fit is not some pre-teen magazine telling girls they need to look like a model. It is trying to get people to become healthy in an age where being healty is not mainstream. A magizine is not the same thing. C'mon people, use your head when you are using something like the Wii Fit.