I think it is more of presenting a choice.
Do you want to be fit and slim? Take the stairs.
Do you want to be fat? Take the escalator.
Anyone know what the speech bubble says?
it’s not any less problematic if that’s the case because it still assumes people taking the escalator do it because they want to, rather than having like a limp or something. that sort of normalized stigma isn’t good.
Obviously I’m obese because I decided to be born with a spinal defect. I should make better choices.
I think I disagree with you on this one. With obesity reaching pandemic levels internationally, I think forcing simple healthy choices is actually a great solution that helps a larger majority than those who may be stigmatized by using the escalator (for what may or may not be a visible reason to choose the escalator). At the very least it increases awareness of those healthy choices.
Still curious what the speech bubble says though…
if obesity is reaching a pandemic level, it is obviously no longer treatable with “why don’t you walk up the stairs for once, fatso?”. if a majority of people are obese it is no longer a question of lifestyle choices.
Hard disagree here.
“Forcing simple healthy choices” completely disregards the many and varied causes of obesity.
This type of thinking reminds me of the war on drugs approach to drug abuse.
Quite obviously, the underlying causes of obesity are many and varied. The only way to resolve an “obesity pandemic” is to have more services directed at understanding an individual’s unique circumstances and helping them develop strategies to improve their health.
This sounds expensive, and doesn’t sound like an election-winning policy in 2025, but that’s where we are at.
Surely those people can disregard a picture on the floor, no? Anyone with any form of disability has to deal with far more nonsense than this (revolving doors, for example).
it’s not about the people who have to take the escalator. it’s about what people who have the choice think about them.
if you’ve ever been mad at someone who parked in a handicap spot only to then get out and have seemingly nothing be visibly wrong with them, you know the thoughts i mean.
People with meaningful physical disabilities that make it borderline impossible to climb up stairs account for… A very small slice of the population. The rest of the population should be bullied into a lifestyle that improves physical and mental health.
i’m sorry did you say bullied into a lifestyle that promotes physical and mental health?
That’s why they’re black.
Edit: To be clear here I was attempting a pun based on read sounding like red. Hence not enough pixels to be red means it’s black.
You should see the names of asian big and tall clothing shops.
Asia doesn’t fuck around when it comes to conformity.
I think it’s a good nudge tbh. Stairs are proven again and again to be an incredibly healthy workout given that you don’t have issues with your knees.
I just came back from Japan and 20k steps a day and hundreds of stairs for a month really put me in shape and made me realize how important good shoes are lol
Stairs are proven again and again to be an incredibly healthy workout given that you don’t have issues with your knees.
I think stairs on the way up is good for health and fine for knees, stairs on the way down doesn’t do as much for health and hurts my knees if I do too much.
While I agree if you can take the stairs you should, however it really breeds ridicule if you are overweight and can’t do it
I think its a very good point. We should probably figure out how to distinguish representation here between “I’m not taking stair” sort of fat and healthy. Maybe it would make more sense to use a carrot here and instead if skinny stick man have a health symbol like a literal carrot maybe idk
Godammit you have to make such a good and insightful comment and then use lol as punctuation. Fuck that. You’re not laughing out loud, liar.
Anecdotes are not evidence. I’d suggest reading more about the pseudoscience first but you seem to not care that you’re spreading bs.
But then they put a pole in the middle of the escalator access. LOL.
The pole is to prevent people from taking carts and similar objects up and potentially causing an accident
Though it does have unintended consequences
Not necessarily carts like the ones you see in shopping malls, but it’s also for things that would not be safe on the escalators like:
- Baby carts (forgot the proper name for them)
- Large carrier bags
- Those cart-like bags elderly people usually carry around that doubles as a walking assistant
Accidentally letting them go would be dangerous.
I’ve seen these sorts of things at subway exits/entrances in airports, where you have carts for moving lots of bags at once. There might also be shops nearby with shopping carts that people have tried to take on the escalator in the past.
I’m not Korean(perhaps someone familiar with the place might be able to offer more insight), just offering some possibilities, but it’s difficult to know without more context.
In Korea, the left of the escalator is for walking, the right is for standing.
(They have signs saying “no walking” but that’s what the divider is for; to double the capacity)
The fatter arrow is just the icing on the cake.
