In a move which will add to and exacerbate our existing problem of obesity, the retailer Debenhams today announces it's intention to sport size 16 female mannequins in its stores. I don't blame them because their business is to sell clothes. The problem here is all to do with where it will all end. Can we reasonably expect a major retailer such as this to display a sense of responsibility?
We can depend on one thing here. Few of the garments being promoted will come with elastictaed waist bands as these can accomodate the growth of a waist line. Thuis could seriously impact on their capacity to make money out of their customers. All the while the NHS remains free at the point of access for every man,woman and child true to its original ideals as laid out in 1948. While it would be easy to lay in to a company apparently catering to the obesity, to do so would be to miss the real source of the problem.
The real challenge remains. Our healthcare system needs to educate people about the perils of eating too much and doing too little. Bans and fines are all very well but education remains the only viable solution. Just as the aeroplanes are building bigger seats and the fashion retailers are making bigger clothes, the hospitals are seing more and more people. As with all bubbles, there will come the day when it bursts....
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