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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Oct 28, 2014
October 28, 2014
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Fashion Emergency:
Today in "That's never okay!..." Walmart's website came under fire yesterday after its adult plus-sized Halloween costume page was labeled "Fat Girl Costumes." People's Stylewatch says Twitter users slammed the big box retailer for being "[hashtag] #rude." Walmart issued a statement saying the "Fat Girl Costumes" category "never should have been on our site." They apologized and later revised the website to the more-politely-worded "Women's Plus-Size Halloween Costumes." (Bartha)
It just gets worse.
Last week we noted that an online costume company had already packaged an Ebola Halloween Costume, featuring a Haz-mat suit you could wear around the neighborhood while trolling for candy.
Yesterday, word emerged that another online retailer, called Brands-on-Sale, was selling a
"Sexy Ebola Containment Suit," featuring a short white dress, face shield, breathing mask, safety goggles and blue latex gloves --for just $59.99. And, if you want the pair of bright yellow knee-high rubber boots, you can pick 'em up for a bit more.
The company's listing says, "As the deadly Ebola virus trickles its way through the United States, fighting its disease is no reason to compromise style. The short dress and chic gas mask will be the talk of Milan, London, Paris, and New York as the world's fashionistas seek global solutions to hazmat couture."
Of course, while it may be in poor taste, it's just one of the more than a thousand items in the company's "sexy listings," which include costumes for:
--Sexy Catholic School Girl, Girl Scout
--Sexy Tin Man
--Adult Sexy Booty Pirate
--Adult Sexy Vodka (Rum, Champagne or beer) bottle
--Sexy Red Riding Hood, Snow White, Tinkerbell or Minnie Mouse and many more.Sucks to be you:
JON GOSSELIN is spending lots of quality time at the unemployment office. Sources tell Us Weekly the father of eight lost his latest job after just a few months, was evicted from his home and is completely broke! Unfortunately, this means his children can't come visit because he has nowhere to put them.
Meanwhile, his ex-wife KATE GOSSELIN hosted a yard sale for a local animal rescue in Pennsylvania over the weekend and fans can look forward to seeing all the action during an upcoming TV special. (Lee)Grace notes:
Professor PAUL McCARTNEY gave a lecture on songwriting last Thursday at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida. He was in town to do a concert in Jacksonville, and RollingStone.com says Paul shared some of his secrets with the students who were only able to get in on the session because they won a lottery. Paul said (quote), "Look, I don't know how to do this. Every time I approach a song, there's no rules. Sometimes the music comes first, sometimes the words --and if you're lucky, it all comes together." He also revealed that writing with JOHN LENNON was a pleasure because John was able to fill in some of the gaps. Like on the "Sgt. Pepper" tune "Getting Better," Paul remembered, "I'd say, 'It's getting better all the time,' and he'd say, 'It can't get much worse. I would have never thought of that." (Marino)
Polling America:
A new survey of a thousand women ages 18-40 for Glamour magazine finds more women than ever have negative body image issues thanks to social media.
The survey by Ohio State University is a follow-up to the original Glamour survey from 1984.
Overall, 54 percent of women polled in the most recent survey are unhappy with their bodies, and 80 percent said simply looking in the mirror makes them feel bad, according to Glamour. The first number is up from 41 percent in 1984.
Lead researcher assistant professor JESSE FOX puts the blame for the increase squarely on social media." In the 2014 survey, " he says, "a huge number of women --64 percent-- report that looking at pictures on sites like Facebook and Instagram makes them feel bad about their body."
American University professor EVELYN MEIER tells Glamour social media is "a bigger platform than ever for us to obsess over appearance."
Ironically, 60 percent of women surveyed by Glamour said that they use digital tools to crop, filter, or retouch their images. (Kaye) -
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