Life

Free Meals... for Beautiful People Only

by Eliza Castile

Whether it's fair or not, research has shown there are all kinds of benefits to being attractive, from better grades to getting ahead at work. Now we can even add free food to the list, because in Zhengzhou, China, the Jeju Island restaurant is giving free meals to its most beautiful customers. Who are the impartial judges of who gets free food, you ask? Local plastic surgeons, of course, because what stake could they possibly have in telling people they're not pretty enough? Except hey, that's literally how they make a living. The first 50 attractive customers each day are eligible for the offer, Mashable reports. Hopefuls are taken to a "beauty identification area" where their faces are scrutinized by said plastic surgeons, paying particular attention to the "quality of their faces, eyes, noses and mouths," according to The Telegraph. "Protruding foreheads" are a particular plus. And if you happen to realize during the process that you want surgery to fix all the flaws people are pointing out, guess what! You're surrounded by plastic surgeons. Fancy that.Authorities aren't exactly pleased with the promotion or the press it's been receiving, although according to The Telegraph, the response on social media seems to be mostly light-hearted.

"I reckon I can get a one per cent discount with my face," joked one user of Weibo, the social media site... "Do the ugly have to pay twice?" wondered another.

City officials removed the neon pink sign advertising the promotion earlier this week, on the grounds that the restaurant didn't obtain permission to display it. However, restaurant owner Xue Hexin has no plans to end the stunt, telling The Telegraph that they will be "more prudent with [their] advertising in future... but the promotion will continue despite the demolition of [their] sign." Good to know they're committed to making pretty people feel better about themselves, because goodness knows nobody else is. Oh, wait.

Image: Giphy