I'm a Minority in YET ANOTHER WAY

This didn't go into the link queue about what to blog about. It's going straight from read to blog.

An increasing number of entrepreneurs have discovered there's big money to be made out of catering to Americans' bulging waistlines -- without seeking to trim them down.

It's big business.

Freedom Paradise, a 112-room resort south of Cancun, Mexico, bills itself as the world's first resort designed for obese people. Its amenities include large armless chairs, wide steps with railings in swimming pools, walk-in showers instead of bathtubs, stronger hammocks and a staff steeped in sensitivity training.
Nearly one-third of American adults are obese (a Body Mass Index of 30 or more), according to the Centers for Disease Control. In 2000, more than 300 million adults in the world were obese and 1 billion were overweight, according to the World Health Organization (news - web sites).

"We are no longer a niche market. Overweight people are the majority in this country," 324-pound Mindy Sommers said, referring to the 64 percent of Americans who are overweight. "Businesses that don't cater to us are stupid. There are a lot of us, and we have a lot of money to spend."

An expanding obese population is providing lots of demand for businesses that supply things that are plus-size -- from larger towels to larger beds, larger clothes to larger jewelry, larger furniture to larger coffins.

Amplestuff.com (http://www.amplestuff.com), an online retailer, sells nearly everything to the obese market, including seat belt extenders, larger umbrellas, larger clothing hangers, larger towels and weighing scales that can accommodate up to 1,000 pounds.

Kudos to the capitalists for noticing and then catering to the demand. Mindy-of-the-majority certainly seems happy.

For some reason I'm in a "feeling" mood today, so I'll tell you the whole thing makes me feel uncomfortable, somehow like it's a victory won, a celebration. And then I snapped out of it when I read this.

"What we need is a solution to the obesity, but what we have is people feeding the problem to make money off the obese people," said Epstein of Euro RSCG Tatham. "Sadly, this is to be expected in a capitalistic economy."

Well, Epstein, I suppose you would rather the entire obese population be naked and stuffed into chairs out of which they cannot climb. That'll certainly solve the problem (???)

Probably my own fears of obesity weighing in earlier. The other gem in the article - kayaks for the obese. I mean...wow.

hln

Posted by hln at October 4, 2003 03:06 PM | Health/Fitness/Nutrition | TrackBack