Why do all the Yahoo icons have skinny, cartoonist depictions of real (fat) Americans?

Question

Is it me, or do all the Yahoo icons for people depict skinny, psuedo-anorexic animations of so-called human beings?

Has Yahoo capitulated to the mainstream media's perceptions on how weight and body image should be displayed?

Answer 1

Yes, they do support that image, I don't think there are any fat avatars! I'm fat as hell, but I'm not putting my pic on here, I guess we all want to be seen as attractive, even in a fictional way.

Answer 2

I just did my avatar a couple of days ago and I chose the "full figured" option or maybe it was called "heavy set" I don't know...

But it was supposed to depict a heavier body. All it did was make the avatar look a little beefier in the body area...and it gave me bigger boobs!

I am 5'3" tall and I weigh 135 pounds. So I am not the stick figure skinny person that Yahoo only seems to depict. However, I also know that I am not the largest person here. I have 15 pounds to lose so I consider myself overweight.

I always wondered if it changes our perception to be looking at all the wide-eyed, beautiful looking cartoon faces of each other.....

Answer 3

Alexei Sayle once said that anybody who uses the word 'workshop' for anything other than in the context of light industry is a ****.

The same can be said for the word 'capitulate' used for anything other than the context of warfare.

In the US obesity is more a factor affecting Hispanics and African-Americans, because of economic factors (poorer areas can't afford parkland and good quality food is harder to find). If you want to be racist and post-modern at the same time, you are going to look doubly foolish.

Answer 4

Interesting!

Answer 5

If heavy avatars were available I wonder how many people would select them?