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This article in SignOnSanDiego hits all the high notes in the the evil media vs. the sad fat people debate. America is getting fatter? Check. Many celebrities are scary-thin and getting thinner? Check. Images of super-skinny stars can make normal girls feel dangerously ugly? The media puts out the idea, and consumers buy into it over and over even though we're not stupid, except maybe we are? Check, and check, and check.
The article has good points, and is eloquent. And it's important to be mindful of this kind of thing. And maybe the story reached someone in a cave in darkest Malaysia, or touched the black and size-zero heart of a fat-hater.
But I don't know. Maybe I'm getting old and worn out and jaded (and stupid), because it just makes me sad, and I'm getting tired of reading about the problem. I'd like to start reading about maybe solutions. I'd like to make an official wish for solutions. Which is as naive as I am jaded.
"[T]he majority of women understand, intellectually, that the glamour they see on their TVs and in magazines and on billboards is manufactured – either achieved with personal chefs, trainers, nannies and a genetic tendency toward preferring carrot sticks to Snickers bars, or simply photo-shopped and flat out phony.
Some 81 percent of women in the U.S. strongly agreed that 'the media and advertising set an unrealistic standard of beauty that most women can't ever achieve,' and 75 percent would like to see more images of diverse beauty, according to a recent survey commissioned by Dove, the soap company.
Yet, women, and increasingly men, keep trying. One quarter of American men and 45 percent of American women are dieting on any given day. Americans spend a reported $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products a year. When that doesn't work, hundreds of thousands turn to plastic surgery and liposuction.
The article has good points, and is eloquent. And it's important to be mindful of this kind of thing. And maybe the story reached someone in a cave in darkest Malaysia, or touched the black and size-zero heart of a fat-hater.
But I don't know. Maybe I'm getting old and worn out and jaded (and stupid), because it just makes me sad, and I'm getting tired of reading about the problem. I'd like to start reading about maybe solutions. I'd like to make an official wish for solutions. Which is as naive as I am jaded.
posted by anne at 10:26 PM
9 Comments:
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I love those Dove commercials. I give them some credit for trying for a solution, and I'm pretty jaded about the state of corporate America these days.
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That was poignant, Anne. Good post.
those of us IN the media need to use the media to our advantage and show alternatives. I'm doing that with my documentary -- check out my blog and you'll see. It's a small step but I feel it's an important mission.
Keep up the great blog!
Tatyana
And of course, when I was looking at the page, a Starbucks ad featuring a pumpkin cream-cheese muffin and latte was right smack in the middle of the article. They tell us to stuff ourselves on the one hand and starve ourselves on the other...
They tell us to stuff ourselves on the one hand and starve ourselves on the other...
Yup. Have you ever noticed the pages of recipes for cakes, pastries, etc in women's magazines, with the Weight Watchers ad stuck right in the middle?
Amy and Susan have gotten right to the heart of the matter, IMO. I guess when the researchers are compiling their work on stupidity, they don't include cognitive dissonance in their evaluations.
From the article:
"One in five of workers questioned said firms should help staff lose weight or keep healthy by offering free fruit, discounted gym membership or encouraging people to cycle to work. But the study also found that employers take a negative attitude and are unwilling to help staff lose weight."
Uck. Now, I'm sorry -- which population is supposed to be the stupid one again?
I talked about joining a gym for ages, then actually did when... I got a job that offered a discount on membership. Worked for me.
Gym fees are a big chunk of money if you're not in a terribly well-paid job.
My current job doesn't offer discounted gym membership, but there is a staff running club which meets at lunchtime twice a week, and I'm a member. There are members of all abilities, and it's free. All we have to do is turn up!
These things do help so much.
I know there's a scheme called "Scotland's Health at Work" organised by the Scottish Executive, in which employers get points for arranging activities which promote health - I don't know what benefits they get, but perhaps offering some kind of carrot is the only way to get business to promote health for its employees. Certainly in the last few years I've noticed more and more activities and initiatives being arranged.
I can see this is much easier for large companies, though: my current employer has nine thousand staff, a few of whom are prepared to give up their time to organise these things. If you work in a small business, that willing person might have to be you - or nobody.
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