Forever 21 customers are fuming after the company added free Atkins diet bars to some online orders in the US.
Ganiella Garcia, who often shops at the store, received an online order this week with two dresses, two skirts, and a cami, all from Forever 21's plus-size section.
"I opened the bag and took the clothes out. Everything was fine. And then when I was trying things on, at the bottom there was a card and there was an Atkins bar in a little bag," she told BuzzFeed News.
"It was very insulting, and honestly I like shopping at Forever 21 — but I don’t feel comfortable buying clothes from a company that thinks I shouldn’t be the size that I am."
Thanks @Forever21 I have received my order of 5 items from the plus section.....oh and this #atkins bar that slipped in there. I don't take kindly to people telling me how to live my life. Oh, and when you were packing the diet bar, you forgot to put my actual invoice!!! 😤
She went on Twitter to see if anyone else had gotten one, and it turned out she wasn't alone. Others were tweeting how the freebie made it seem like the company was body-shaming its customers.
YES shame on me for ordering from @Forever21 but why do they have to push diet food on me?? It came with an Atkins bar??
@xacv_ Can we please get this trending? My friend ordered Plus Size clothes and @Forever21 sent her an Atkins Diet Bar! Called customer service and they won't do ANYTHING.
my mom ordered some clothes from @Forever21 ‘s plus size collection and they sent a Atkins diet bar along with the stuff she ordered💀
"It's upsetting, and I feel like a lot of people are disappointed in them as a fashion outlet that they rely on," said Garcia.
"They should acknowledge that what they did was wrong."
Although many of the tweets were from people who ordered plus-size clothes, in a statement Forever 21 apologized and said the promo went to all customers.
"From time to time, Forever 21 surprises our customers with free test products from third parties in their e-commerce orders. The freebie items in question were included in all online orders, across all sizes and categories, for a limited time and have since been removed," the company told BuzzFeed News.
"This was an oversight on our part and we sincerely apologize for any offense this may have caused to our customers, as this was not our intention in any way.”