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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

These cupcakes are making me hangry [mercurynews.com]:

In what is probably the only example ever of tiny, frosted cakes sparking mass outrage, strong negative feedback has prompted Google to remove a cupcake calorie counter from its iOS Maps app, the company confirmed Tuesday.

Google recently added the cutesy — and possibly half-baked — feature as an experiment. With the new feature, users saw a pink cupcake icon that automatically showed them how many calories they would burn if they walked to their destination. The app also translated that calorie count into mini cupcakes, telling walkers how many of the tiny treats they would burn if they walked from point A to point B.

But complaints soon started raining down like sprinkles.

Critics accused the cartoon cupcake counter of being patronizing, promoting body-shaming, and possibly triggering unhealthy behavior in people who have struggled with eating disorders or over-exercise, BBC reports [bbc.com]. There's no way to turn the feature off, critics pointed out.

"Do they realize how extremely triggering something like this is for ppl who have had eating disorders? Not to mention just generally shamey," a user named Taylor Lorenz tweeted. She added: "Also it looks like there's no way to turn this feature off what the hell."

Google Maps has instead added 12 "worlds" for users to explore [www.blog.google], including Venus, Pluto, Europa, Ganymede, Rhea, and Mimas. Google Maps users would in fact weigh less if they were on these bodies.

Also at The Verge [theverge.com], SFGate [sfgate.com], TechCrunch [techcrunch.com], and Buzzfeed [buzzfeed.com].

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