Target offends plus-size customers

Every now and then you come across something odd (and sometimes horrific) on the websites of high-profile companies. In the past, there was the “Eat Less” shirt by Urban Outfitters and the disgusting “Keep calm and rape” t-shirts that were sold on Amazon. This week, it’s Target’s color description of a particular dress on their website that is causing an uproar. The dress in question was portrayed in a variety of colors on its website – one of which was “Dark Heather Gray.” Innocent enough, right? Until you try to order the dress in a larger size, and you realize that the plus-size gray color’s name has been changed to “Manatee Gray.” Was Target trying to imply something? The name inconsistency was noticed by Target customer Susan Clemens, who captured images of the color titles and posted it on Twitter. Everyone went nuts. Target quickly apologized and fixed the error. Target spokesperson Jessica Deede told FOX 411 that “Manatee Gray” is a common color label used by Target (for several different products) and that the difference in color labels for the dress happened because of a communication error between two teams working on the dress. “There were two teams working on uploading products to Target.com and there was a discrepancy,” she said.”This was an unintentional oversight. We will take this opportunity to learn. We are working on fixing that color label on Target.com.” It’s possible that, like Deede says, there was no harm intended when the teams were choosing color labels. After all, manatees ARE gray…but it seems that strange yet obvious oversights have been happening a lot lately. Are companies not editing and approving their work as closely as they used to? It seems that these mistakes are being carelessly made and that larger companies have the experience and enough personel to know better. We’re fortunate to live in such a connected time where we can spread messages around the world with a click of a button – it ensures that consumers get their voices heard and gives them power. I’m glad this issue was addressed so quickly and handled with grace, and hopefully companies will be more careful in the future.

About The Author

Patricia Colli, Editor of Beutiful Magazine, is a human rights activist, equality advocate, and promoter of health, acceptance and wellbeing. Having experienced disordered eating, unhealthy exercise patterns and poor body image, she is especially passionate about shedding light on eating disorders and the power of body acceptance.