While watching a little bit of tv today -- a real rarity for me -- I saw the latest Yoplait Formé Satisfy commercial. Technically it's been on air for quite a while, but I usually tune out when commercials come on!
This commercial isn't actually insulting, at least not to me, but it does make me sad that it apparently supports women dieting or not eating enough sustenance.
If you'd like to view the commercial it can ber found here.
For those who don't wish to watch the commercial I'll give you a quick run down. It depicts an office environment of females who are either singly or in groups. They're all thin and all rather attractive women. It shows them sitting at their desks, meeting area and conference desk all looking glumly at various "healthy" foods they'd packed for their lunch -- it could be just snacks. Rice cakes, a single large lettuce leaf etc. In one scene there are three women sitting at what appears to be a conference table where a plate of chocolate biscuits is placed in front of them. Each of the women politely decline and one is tempted but thinks better of it.
I'm sure you get the idea.
Now, I'm not actually insulted by this commercial as I said, but I find it rather sad that such things are expected and even cherished ideals. To starve ones self is not healthy by any definition of the word. Yet here is this environment, which mimics reality, where people are so obsessed with being thin that they refuse to eat anything that might have an ounce of fat!!
Sorry but this is just wrong. This ideal to be skinny, to remain skinny, is absurd.
In fact there is so much wrong with this cultural view I can't even put it all into words.
It's teaching young women -- all women -- that being thin is more desirable than even eating a proper healthy lunch/snack. This baffles my mind.
Now I realise that people probably don't pay that much attention to commercials nor are there a lot of people watching the commercial during midday viewing. However, the message is still clear and, in my opinion, is extremely unhealthy.
I also realise that Yoplait are just trying to sell their product -- in this case yogurt -- and so they'll try to appeal to their target demographic. This doesn't make it right nor does it promote positive body image to any demographic.
There are probably thousands of blogs talking about media advertising and such, but I just wanted to share my view of something that really unsettled me. As I said it's not so much insulting as it is unhealthy. I sincerely hope that the FA movement will -- one day -- be able to stop such unhealthy commercials and the unhealthy and unrealistic portrayal of women.
2 comments:
Well, the thing is, the product they're trying to sell isn't just yogurt, it's fat-free yogurt. Used to be that yogurt (what's now called full-fat yogurt and is hard to find, but back then was just what yogurt was) was lauded for being lower in fat than other semi-comparable dairy products like ice cream and sour cream. It's the other side of fatphobia, dietary fatphobia, and it's just as culturally-endemic as fatphobia about fat bodies. And, of course, very much entangled in (often unattainable) beauty standards, and the social requirement for women to strive to meet those standards - that commercial is especially nasty because it caters not only to the sizeism and sexism in the beauty myth but to the ageism, ablism, and racism.
Sunflower
The latest gem from my country. On the radio, they have this commercial:
*Kaboom!*
A disgusted male voice (M): "I always knew the fatty would explode"
A girl's voice (G):"Had she only eaten less".
M: Yes! By the way, how do you do it? You seem to eat SO little!
G (in a flirty manner): I have my secret. "Goodbye appetite"!
... and so on and so on.
Yes, this thing is really called "Goodbye appetite". The commercial clearly claims it's a virtue not to eat at all (!!), as always when one feels hungry, one should grab a pill instead. Otherwise, they'll get fattyfatfat and EXPLODE but prior to this pathetic end they'll be totally disgusting to everyone around.
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