Target mixes up definitions of ‘plus size’ and ‘maternity’

Online shoppers noticed that the retail chain used a picture of a pregnant model to show off one of its plus-size items. Meanwhile, Facebook users thought a model in a Cosmo photo was well below plus-size.

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“Plus size” is a term that is meant to be a little vague. Different clothing makers have different notions of what clothing sizes fit in that range.

Target, fresh off the news of its massive credit card breach, has earned some unwanted attention for a wholly different reason, this time based on how it represents plus-size women on its website. In a photo noticed by a tipster who passed it on to Jezebel, the retail chain appeared to get the terms “plus size” and “maternity” mixed up.

The model for a black-and-cream striped maxi dress for plus-size women is clearly pregnant.

“Oh Target! Where plus-size women are nothing more than pregnant manatees, I guess,” Jezebel writer Rebecca Rose wrote.

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