Amazon Pulls 'Disgusting' Anorexia App Geared Toward Girls

Amazon has pulled an app called “Rescue the Anorexia Girl” from its stores after social media reacted harshly. Good idea. (Photos: Amazon). 

Amazon has removed a controversial app called “Rescue the Anorexia Girl” from its store after major public outcry that the app (which received a 1-star rating) poked fun at people eating disorders. Twitter users, many of whom threatened to boycott the online retailer, called the game “inane” and “absolutely disgusting.”

Amazon sent the following statement to Yahoo Parenting: “All apps in the Amazon Appstore must adhere to our content guidelines and the app in question is no longer available from our store.”

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Per the rules of the game, players — called “Brave heroes” — tossed food at an anorexic animated girl. If players missed their target, the girl would become “ill from leanness and die.” The description for the app read: “Help anorexia girl become healthy! Skinny girl needs your help to get fatter. Feed her with different goodies – sweet and regular – cakes, chicken, pastry, sandwiches and etc. … Just throw food at her when she appears. The more you hit the mark, the more healthier she becomes! If you miss the target, girl may become ill from leanness! Be attentive!”

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Tim Prokhorov, a representative from Smart Touch Media, which published and marketed the app, tells Yahoo Parenting that the company understands the negative feedback and took swift action to discontinue the game.

Currently about 57 percent of adolescent girls engage in unhealthy eating habits such as fasting, crash dieting, vomiting, or taking diet pills, according to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA). "There is such compelling evidence to show that eating disorders are complex psychological and biologically-based illnesses,” Claire Mysko, director of programs at NEDA, tells Yahoo Parenting. “Yet compared to other psychiatric diagnoses, there is a lack of funding for eating disorders research in part because of the stigma surrounding them,”

These types of apps, says Mysko, reinforce the idea that eating disorders are a choice. “To reduce the illness to its behavior alone is offensive,” she says. And for someone struggling with eating issues, an app like “Rescue the Anorexia Girl” can prevent them from seeking help.

“We appreciate the activists who shut this app down and fortunately we’re seeing more people use social media to take a stand for body positivity,” says Mysko. “That’s the real silver lining.”

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