Food allergies are often the subject of attempts at humor in the media. For many, they fall flat or evoke winces, while for others, they are viewed as absolutely hilarious. Even for some who abhor such jokes, they see any form of humor as ‘untouchable’, believing that even when it’s in poor taste, it should be permitted in public discourse because it is someone’s form of ‘art’.
Two such attempts have been circulating on social media. The first is from PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), showcasing their lone star tick costume. The tick is known to cause alpha-gal syndrome, an allergy to mammalian meat:
The announcement features this text:
“The Lone Star tick’s bite is helping involuntary blood donors discover that vegan meals that are tasty, animal-friendly, and don’t come with a nasty rash,” says PETA Senior Vice President Colleen O’Brien. “PETA’s Lone Star tick costume will be creeping out carnivores this Halloween and encouraging everyone to latch on to loving those flesh-free bites.”
The second is from the parody news site “The Onion”:
This parody included the following text:
As he struggled to discreetly administer the life-saving anaphylaxis treatment following a bee sting, local poor third grader Mason Prewitt was reportedly bullied this week for using a generic EpiPen. “Oh my God, is that really your auto-injector, or did you just tape a sewing needle to a glue stick?” said classmate Lucas Hammond, who joined with several other children in waving their genuine EpiPens in Prewitt’s face as the boy jabbed the off-brand epinephrine-delivery device into his thigh.
We fully understand that the First Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees the right to free speech, and even protects those whose humor involves insensitive bullying.
With that context, we now turn to you — our readers who have seen it all regarding food allergies — in this installment of our You Be the Judge series.
Our question is this: What should we as a community do when faced with such denigration of food allergies? Should we fight back, as was the case in calling for a boycott of the Peter Rabbit movie, the removal of “EpiPen” branded beer from the Playalinda Brewing Co’s lineup, and the retraction of the Uber Eats Super Bowl commercial showing a man suffering full-blown anaphylaxis, or should we simply take it as a tasteless attempt at humor, be ‘good sports’ and move on with our lives?
You Be the Judge in the comments section below.
Note: Sources have been redacted so as not to reward them with traffic to their websites.
We should fight back. Making fun of someone’s life threatening food allergies is horrible.
I agree. I just am not sure as to how.
We should push back against all forms of bullying, from the unfunny “punch a baby” jokes to food allergy jokes. All forms of meanness disguised as comedy or something else denigrate all individuals’ worth as human beings. Let’s all treat others as we would like to be treated, with dignity and respect.
There are so many things in life that are truly funny, that do not include making jokes at people’s expense. Maybe we need better comedy writers.
More and better education on food allergies and their consequences. Everywhere, at schools, in the media, on social media, etc.
It’s a disability. It shouldn’t be tolerated any more than picking on people in wheelchairs.