It’s a hard thing. Body image. Humpf. Eating disorders. They suck the big one lol. Unless you suffer from one, it is so hard to understand it. Sheet, its even harder to understand when you do have one!
Are you ready for some snow? Yuck. I wouldn’t mind so much if good old mother nature would stop having these storms on Saturdays and make them say, early Mondays. Like 3 AM, so our vacation could last one more day! LOL.
Posted by justme on 02/25/06 at 08:38 AM
I know that eating disorders are horrible for the people who suffer from them and for the people who love them. There’s no disputing that. It startled me in the extreme to see Nutrisystem cashing in on it. I mean, there is no other interpretation I can make when their ad takes an already thin woman and glorifies both her dissatisfaction with her healthy weight and her delight in turning herself into a skeleton. It was appalling on multiple levels.
Re the snow—how did this winter weather advisory suddenly turn into a winter storm warning?? Heavy snow?? A nor’easter?? Yeesh. I was already thinking spring thoughts. This is not fair. But yes, if we have to have a winter storm, let’s not have it on a weekend!
I suppose you’ve heard about the new Kentucky Fried Chicken ad. People record TV shows and then fast forward through the commercials. KFC has found a way to make people linger over its ads. Supposedly in only one or two of the frames within the add there are instructions for how to get a free chicken something-or-other at the local KFC restaurant. So people are rewarded by going through the ad frame by frame. I think this, too, speaks loads about the commercial nature of our society. But shame falls on the audience too for allowing themselves to be victimized in such a way!
No, I hadn’t heard about that one, Pablo. It’s an interesting adaptation to DVR use, though. I suppose pasting a big old coupon on 20 frames in succession wouldn’t be subtle enough.
Every now and then I do go through an ad frame by frame. It’s an education in advertising. Lots of things go whizzing past without conscious recognition, but advertisers really do sneak in little flourishes that are quite astonishing. My all time favorite was a Red Lobster ad showing a woman eating a little shrimp. Wow, you could almost call it salacious, what she was doing with her tongue. But at regular speed, it just wasn’t noticeable. And yet there was something about the ad at regular speed that made me think there was something interesting going on that I couldn’t see. Well, we’ve always known that sex sells.
Have you noticed that Weight Watchers commercials features a Cher song? I can’t get over the irony in that one.
Next entry: The end of the wood pile
Previous entry: More weather. Ick.
No anecdotes today. Just sad stories of some of my students starving themselves to near death, encountering massive health problems and altogether following a trend that is perpetuated by the media and their peers.
In my job I’ve encountered enough cases to know that it is virtually impossible to help. I’ve had students that needed more than 5 years to get over eating disorders and whatnot. If they did manage to shake it, it was only with professional help. Nothing and nobody else was able to make a difference.
On the other hand, the media keep on reporting about obesity problems here.
It’s a mad, mad, mad world.
P.S.: I’m escaping the mayhem here for a few days. No carnival. No Internet. Just friends, some good films and lots of live music. As Arnie so poignantly said: “I’ll be back ...!” ;)