Friday, June 30, 2006

Big is the new medium

Wendy's has decided to remove the term "Biggie" from its menu, and use the more familiar terms small, medium and large.

The 32-ounce soda formerly known as a "Biggie" will now be known as a "medium." That's right, a medium soda is 32 ounces. A quart. That's almost 3 cans worth, at 384 calories and 104 grams of sugar -- about 37 teaspoons. Wendy's is adding a new "large" soda at a whopping 42 ounces.

Perhaps the clothing industry should follow Wendy's resizing example. American Apparel, the popular clothing company whose American-made shirts are the basis for many trendy t-shirt lines, considers a "medium" equivalent to a women's size 4-6.

The average woman in America is a size 14. The average model is a size 6. How is a 4-6 "medium" by any rational standard? Now apply Wendy's sizing paradigm and you get a whole new perspective. A "Biggie," which is 3 times the standard can size, is now a medium. So by logical extension, an "extra large" in clothing -- defined by American Apparel as a 12-14 -- should be the new medium.

Considering the contribution the fast food industry is making to the body size of Americans, it seems only fair we should align our definitions of body size to their definitions of portion size.

1 Comments:

Blogger Gertrude said...

Very interesting thoughts. Makes perfect sense. Delia's too makes things way too small. JJill on the other hand makes sizes too large.

1:09 PM  

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