Hit Australian children’s TV show Bluey has edited an episode after concerns that it was potentially fat-shaming characters.
A co-production between the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and BBC Studios, Bluey is set in Australia and is about the life of an eponymous blue heeler puppy, her little sister Bingo and her parents Bandit and Chilli.
The episode – called Exercise – sees Bluey’s mum and dad, Chilli and Bandit, complaining about how they needed to exercise to lose weight.
In the show, Bandit is seen weighing himself and saying: “Oh man … I just need to do some exercise”.
Chilli chips in, replying “tell me about it” before Bluey asks “why don’t you just do some exercise?”
After the episode was aired in Australia, parents and health professionals voiced concern that it was sending potentially harmful messages to children about their weight.
“With one in five children around the world showing signs of disordered eating, I really expected more…”, one parent wrote on Facebook, while others were “appalled” about the “fatphobic” message.
A spokesman for ABC said: “The recent episode of Bluey, Exercise, has been republished by the ABC following a decision by the makers of the program. The new version provides families with the opportunity to manage important conversations in their own way.
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“As the home of Bluey, the ABC supports the decision to re-edit the program and we have updated the episode on our platforms.
“BBC Studios will use this revised version for global distribution and also support this decision.”
The decision has met with favour, with one parent posting on Facebook: “Well done Bluey production team for listening/recognising the problem and making the change. Looking forward to watching it this evening with my son.”