Saturday, May 5, 2012

Betcha Can't Eat Just One

In my last post I touched on the topic of food marketing and I’d like to explore that a little further today.

It’s no news to any of you that we’re inundated with messages from the mass media about food. You don’t need to do exhaustive research to know that – you just have to live a normal life. In an average day I encounter billboards on my drive to work telling me it’s Mini-Vanilla Scones time, articles in newspapers and magazines that are really plugs for specific food brands (what a fluke that there’s an ad for Kraft on the page opposite the broccoli au gratin recipe!), and television commercials for everything from the Colonel’s Extra Crispy to Domino’s Stuffed Cheesy Bread. It’s almost impossible to avoid and because it’s so prevalent, it can be easy to get desensitized and become oblivious to its impact on our appetites. Surely the food industry must think it’s having an effect on us because they are willing to fork out billions of dollars every year to promote their products to a hungry public.

There’s also a remarkable similarity to the message. Be it Yoplait Light or a Big Mac, at some point you will be told how orgasmically good you will feel when you eat this outrageously delicious product, so much so that you’ll want to go out and buy it immediately. One of my personal favorites is Ghirardelli’s “Moments of Timeless Pleasure,” with up-close and personal shots of women nibbling in languorous fashion on squares of dark gourmet chocolate, eyes rolling and lips quivering with each bite. (Eeek! I want some myself! Right Now!) But below the surface meaning are more subconscious suggestions, tidbits that you may not notice unless you’re paying careful attention. Just the other night I saw an ad for a breakfast cereal that “wasn’t bad for you, it just tasted that way.” Hmm. So I guess the only food that tastes good is food that’s bad for you? Or conversely, healthy food doesn’t taste good?

Pretty sneaky. And pretty effective. What better way to get you to eat things that are profitable for the food manufacturer even though they may wind up making you sick.

It’s especially ironic to be watching a news program in which the topic of the “obesity epidemic” is discussed (with appropriate solemnity on the newscaster’s face), then cut to a commercial for Red Robin, home of the 1000 calorie salad. A recent development in the food industry’s arsenal is the advent of television channels devoted exclusively to cooking. Now, instead of the ten measly minutes of commercial break typical for a half-hour program, you can be subjected to an entire thirty minutes of hard-core sugar-coated ecstasy on Cupcake Wars. Since we’re speaking of television, here’s something to consider. Since 1950, obesity rates in the United States have soared by over 300%, from just under 10% of the population then to almost one-third now. What has also soared in that same time period? Why, the number of American homes with a television set. What a bizarre coincidence!

Imagine you’re a person like me, formerly fat and trying to stay that way, surrounded on all sides by subliminal and not-so-subliminal messages telling you to eat… eat… eat. Is it any wonder that so many people finally cry uncle? If you’re struggling with weight and wondering why you can’t resist the stuff you know is bad for you, consider that maybe your willpower has been hijacked by a food industry more concerned with profit than the customers it profits from.

Oh look, Doritos!

2 comments:

  1. So many great points here, Sandy, not the least of which is the connection between more televisions and more obesity. (It's pretty stunning to think about how many issues can be traced back to increases in the role television plays in our lives.)

    Ben

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    1. I've had some days recently where I didn't watch more than a few minutes of television and I kind of enjoyed not having it on. The house was so quiet!

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