Forever 21 mailed Atkins diet bars with every order — and got called fat-shamers

In July 2019, Forever 21 began including free Atkins meal-replacement bars in its US e-commerce orders — including orders of plus-sized clothing — as part of a third-party sampling promotion. Customers posted photos of the bars on Twitter; many who received them alongside plus-size items read the pairing as the brand calling them fat.

The backlash was fast: author Rebecca Sky told her followers the brand seemed to want to "eradicate fat bodies" and lost her business; YouTuber Sierra Schultzzie retracted years of praise for Forever 21's plus-size range — "SCREW YOU AND YOUR BODY SHAMING, DIET CULTURE MARKETING"; others warned the bars could trigger eating disorders. Forever 21 said the bars went out "across all sizes and categories" alongside its routine third-party samples, called the sampling "an oversight on our part", apologized and stopped the promotion.

The sting was sharper because Forever 21 had long been lauded as one of the few major retailers with an expansive plus-size line. The same week, Macy's pulled Pourtions portion-control plates and glasses — labeled "skinny jeans" to "mom jeans" — after podcast host Alie Ward criticized them, telling customers it had missed the mark.

A public apology, a halted promotion, and public vows from longtime plus-size customers to stop shopping and stop covering the brand.

The pairing ignored what it would say to plus-size shoppers: a diet bar with a dress reads as a verdict on their bodies.

The deal shipped indiscriminately — "across all sizes and categories" — so the most hurtful pairing was guaranteed to happen.

Diet culture was already under scrutiny in 2019, and unsolicited diet products read as triggering to people with eating disorders.

The brand's plus-size credibility raised the stakes: customers who had praised its inclusiveness felt singled out and betrayed.

Sampling is a message about your customer: a diet product in a fashion order tells plus-size shoppers what you think of their bodies, whatever the intent.

Forever 21 stopped the promotion and apologized within days of the first tweets; Atkins defended its product separately, and there is no indication of a lasting sales impact in the material. The episode landed the same week as Macy's Pourtions recall-from-shelves, part of a broader moment of scrutiny over brands moralizing about weight.