Greetings from Ireland! I've been reading Feministing for a couple of months, and been getting really enthused about some of the stuff that everyone has been posting. And today I saw something on TV that pissed me off, so even though I'm still trying to learn about this whole feminism thing and still fairly noobish, it annoyed me enough that I'm going to have a bit of a blather about it regardless.
It was an ad for a Special K fit-back-into-your-jeans-after-Christmas diet. Can somebody please tell me why these ads 1: exist in the first place and 2: are aimed exclusively at women?
Eating almost nothing but breakfast cereal for two weeks is unhealthy, and who's to say that women need to crash diet after the holidays anyway? If you think you've overeaten and put on weight that you're not happy with, then hop on a bicycle to go to the shops rather than driving. But the benefits of cardiovascular exercise belong in another rant. What's pissed me off is that some suits trying to sell their oversalted, allegedly healthy breakfast cereal are playing on women's insecurity. Seriously. Give me porridge any day.
Well. That's my first ever official feminist rant out of the way. That was kinda easy. Thoughts, comments etc welcome.
Niamh
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Ah, Special K. The "healthy" cereal pumped full of high fructose corn syrup and other crap.
This is relevant:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charlotte-hilton-andersen/i-hate-special-k_b_100033.html
From the article.
The trick is that the slogan is actually "You already hate your body so we will too."
(1) many many women want to fit into conventional beauty standards, and (2) men largely don't care. The add company that handles Kellogg's account knows that, so they figure they can sell women a quick fix. Don't bother exercising, just eat this cereal.
The vanilla almond is damned tasty though, if you ask me.
If I remember the ad on the box correctly, you're not supposed to eat "nothing but" Special K for two weeks, but just rather eat it for every breakfast?
Which, of course, isn't a good idea either, since you're also supposed to get some protein and good fats with your breakfast in order to get your body what it needs to start the day.
Special K's always been marketed as the "diet" cereal, despite the fact that it has roughly the same calories as a bowl of Apple Jacks or Frosted Flakes.
I like the strawberry version though, I must admit.
As for why they're geared exclusively at women, well, there's these weird "rules" I'll try to explain.Bear in mind I didn't make them, I'm not saying we should agree with them, I'm just stating them. Women fretting about their weight are "as it should be", while men who worry about it are snidely labeled "gym queens", "metrosexuals", etc. Though at the same time a man may acceptably be concerned about it if he's bodybuilding or playing sports or some other such properly "manly" activity, not because he's worried about his looks or desirability.
Speaking of his desirability, while overweight people of both sexes are treated badly in America, an overweight man who possesses a certain charisma can be considered "lovable" a la Seth Rogen or Jack Black and attract his share of admirers.An overweight woman who is charismatic will merely be labeled as having a "good personality" and it will be left at that.
And that's sort of why ads for Special K or yogurt or what have you are only geared at women.
Though at the same time a man may acceptably be concerned about it if he's bodybuilding or playing sports or some other such properly "manly" activity, not because he's worried about his looks or desirability.
I would disagree on this. I'm no MRA, but there are lots of men here in Australia who will pat their belly and say "I need to lose a few kilos" or who complain about their weight in conversations saying things like "Nah I don't think she'd be interested in me, I'm a bit on the big side" or something along those lines. That being said, I absolutely agree that it's MORE OFTEN women who will voice these concerns, or at least who are encouraged to feel that way. Here in Australia though we've also recently run an ad campaign about obesity in the baby boomer population, since we have an aging population.
Check it out here: http://www.accessibility.com.au/news/australia-measures-up-national-obesity-campaign
Unfortunately it's focussed on measuring yourself, with the women's measurement being less than the men's *sigh*. Ah well, my point is that here they do focus these campaigns on men as well as women, but it is usually in terms of fitness, not "desirability" (who said only skinny people are desirable anyway? Most of the women I'm into have more than a bit of fat on them.. I find it attractive!)
Okay I've rambled enough, haha.