Food, Women and Advertising
About Face is a San Francisco based non-profit group that promotes positive self-esteem among women. It's a site worth visiting, and they have a curious and shocking collection of images from the advertising world.
In their list of the top ten offenders is this insightful comment:
Food in advertising rarely makes an appearance as simple nourishment. Instead it acts as a substitute for love or romance, a reward (for "good" behavior), a guilty secret/pleasure, an erotic encounter, a consolation prize, a source of and cure for anxiety. Advertising that links food to so many other needs and desires (while simultaneously promoting the thin-ideal body image), can encourage eating disorders, especially in relation to empty-calorie, high sugar and high fat content foods like chocolate. (J. Retzinger Ph.D, Dept. of Mass Communications, UC Berkeley, 2004.)The message is: Use food to meet your emotional needs - but at the same time you must still remain thin. And not only that - but you must feel guilty about eating "naughty" foods. Of course much of this message is communicated in a very subtle manner.
If you believe that popular media imagery doesn't affect youth -- then think again. This Reuters report concludes that nearly 40% of US adolescents try smoking because they saw it in a movie.
"Because movie exposure to smoking is so pervasive, its impact on this age group outweighs whether peers or parents smoke or whether the child is involved in other activities, like sports," he added.I also wonder how many teenagers try to get thin at all costs - because they see so many rail-thin Hollywood actresses.
Read More
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- Meet Greg, 155 Pounds Down! (DailySpark)
- 2012 Super Bowl Commercial Winners: Oikos and Belvita [VIDEOS] (Diets in Review)
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Created / Updated: November 8, 2011
I just want to point out that we men fall prey to the hollywood myths about thinness, as well. More and more young men are experiencing eating disorders in this country.
ReplyWhile there is so much publicity about America being Fat, there is practically no publicity in comparison, about the effects of these media messages about thinness on our youth.
So glad you posted about this. I linked to your post on Peertrainer.
http://peertrainer.com/LoungeCommunityThread.aspx?ForumID=1&ThreadID=5249
ReplyI definitely agree that women are supposed to feel guilty about eating just about any food that men eat. And yet, they are expected to be rail-thin. You always see magazine interviews with celebrities who talk about eating junk and being naturally thin. I think most of them actually do eat healthy most of the time, plus they have personal trainers. But yeah, men are also subjected to stereotypes...they're supposed to eat Monster burgers and fries for lunch and still be muscular and hot. I'm sure most of the people that actually eat those things aren't exactly thin or sexy, whether they are male or female.
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ReplyThat’s great, I never thought about Food, Women and Advertising like that before.
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