An application criticized as being sexist and irresponsible was removed from the iTunes store after a successful petition was filed by an online campaign to Apple, Yahoo News reported.
Designed to encourage girls as young as nine years old, Plastic Surgery & Plastic Doctor & Plastic Hospital Office for Barbie Version was rated as 9+ in the App Store and was meant to help girls perform procedures such as liposuction on a doll.
"This unfortunate girl has so much extra weight that no diet can help her," the app's description read. "In our clinic she can go through a surgery called liposuction that will make her slim and beautiful. We'll need to make small cuts on problem areas and suck out the extra fat. Will you operate her, doctor?"
According to Yahoo News, an immediate Twitter movement was launched by the Everyday Sexism Project, based in London, defining the game as being "crap."
"These apps promoted the idea, to girls of a very young age, that their looks and the shape of their bodies is the sum total of their value, that being thin is the ultimate goal, and that the only way to 'fix' their bodies is to turn to surgery," the project's founder, Laura Bates, wrote in an email to Yahoo News. "The apps drew over-simplistic links between appetite, obesity and surgery, and utterly left out the sensible notion of healthy exercise."
It came as no surprise when Apple decided to take swift action.
"Thousands of people were equally concerned about the apps as we were," Bates said.
In a similar instance, Bates happened to discover another application on Google Play about plastic surgery. As many people started taking notice and directing negative tweets towards the app, Google acted quickly in removing Plastic Surgery from its storefront, Yahoo News reported.
The app was developed by a person identified as "corina rodriguez". With over 25 other programs being created by her in the iTunes store, some of the subjects include Barbie-themed makeovers, Justin Bieber, and action games.
All of the apps are free, with none being officially licensed by the figures they depict, Yahoo News reported.
