Let's start with two stories - one from way back, one recent.
From way back -
For much of my life, I've enjoyed talk shows. From way back when I was young, and I'd watch after school (they were on in the afternoon back then), into adulthood when the late-night shows were more my thing, I liked hearing the funny or interesting stories of the famous interviewees. I laughed at their silly skits and games. It was all very entertaining to me.
I remember when I first realized the guests on the show weren't invited on simply because they were famous and it was fun. They were there to promote their product, usually a tv show or movie. Knowing that took a bit of the shine off my love for the talk shows. They were still entertaining, but now I saw they weren't vehicles simply of entertainment, they were and still are vehicles to generate sales - a longer, more fun version of a commercial.
From recently -
An ad (masquerading as a human interest story) came across my feed for an ancient revolutionary weight loss solution which, up until now had been a well-kept secret. The explanation of how it worked its magic seemed to make sense. Naturally, the people who had benefitted from it - until now - were an exclusive group of powerful, wealthy, or famous individuals.
Even secrets kept for centuries have their way of sneaking out, and now this product is in such high demand and of such limited supply (because the berries used to make it grow in such specialized conditions, of course) that well over 200,000 people are on a waiting list to buy it. Fortunately for those lucky enough to see this compelling "human interest story," there is now a way to cut to the front of the waiting line.
These stories illustrate why "Show me the money" may be one of the best lines ever in a movie. Its brilliance lies not because it's particularly brilliant writing, but because it can be used as a key to getting down to the truth of many things. Today we're going to flip it around from how it's used in Jerry Maguire. Today we're looking at who's benefitting from the insane amount of money spent annually on diet and beauty products.
Hopefully, you've at least begun to see how this applies to what we talk about in our Nourishing Body and Soul neighborhood. The rest of this post may paint a pretty discouraging picture of the culture we live in, and how to many advertisers, our bodies are nothing more than targets for product sales. But don't worry, today we're taking a look at the landscape. Next week I'll give you some power tools to make some changes.
Think for a moment of how powerfully media affects our thoughts about our bodies. Consider the ideas that may be generated by the way girls and women are portrayed in ads, movies, tv shows, social media, music videos, and other visual art forms. It starts young, too.
Think about your favorite non-cartoon show from childhood. What did the lead female character look like? Thin and pretty, I'll bet. What happens when we start comparing ourselves to that ideal from such a young age?
Lindsay and Lexie Kite share this quote in their book More Than A Body, "Girls get the message, from very early on, that what's most important is how they look, that their value, their worth depends on that. Boys get the message that this is what's important about girls. We get it from advertising, we get it from films, we get it from television shows, video games - everywhere we look. So no matter what else a woman does, no matter what else her achievements, her value still depends on how she looks." Jean Kilbourne, creator of the film series Killing Us Softly: Advertising's Image of Women
We could go on for days laying out the case for how girls and women are constantly bombarded, from every type of media imaginable, with this message. And why? Because there's a fat lot of money in it - billions of dollars annually.
To make things worse, social media has made unrealistic ideals seem even more attainable. Influencers use their platforms to share, "...often in seemingly personal, vulnerable, #sponsored testimonials about how waist shapers..., diet shakes, hair gummies, appetite suppressant candy, new workouts," and so much more to help their followers look their best. Lindsay and Lexie go on, "We hope (and I hope) everyone knows that the vast majority of those celebs and influencers are simply copying and pasting a caption written for them by companies to sell a product that they've never actually used. But not everyone knows. The most vulnerable among us - the youngest, most depressed, most beaten down, and most desperate to be accepted - often do not know." (More Than A Body pgs 51-52)
How many products marketed for women are aimed at appearance and appeal? There are products for literally every millimeter of our bodies. Can you think of even one external body part (one that's visible from the outside) that doesn't have a product available to "fix" some "problem" with it? I can't.
Now, consider that men have most of the same external body parts women do, yet appearance-based products aimed at them are more a snowball than the avalanche aimed at women.
Admittedly, some things have started to change - a little. Again, from More Than a Body (pg 63), "Some might be tempted to think the "thick," "voluptuous," or "curvaceous" ideals that have become more popular in the mainstream over the last several years are a step in the right direction - a reprieve from the unhealthy ideals of the past. However, there is no indication this is true. The diet and weight-loss industry raked in $65 billion in 2018 and has grown every year. It thrives even when the economy doesn't. Rates of disordered eating have remained steadily high."
How disheartening is that?
In the story about the ad I recently saw, if their product is as effective as they claim and their waiting list is as long as they say, why are they wasting their money on advertising? They supposedly already have way more customers than they can handle. So, yeah, show me the money - who gains from their product me? Or them?
"In this environment of normalized objectification that has colonized every inch of our bodies, we need to shift our attention from being passive objects to active subjects - from questioning how we look to questioning how we've been trained to see ourselves." (pg 69)
Next week we'll take more from the awesomeness that is More Than a Body and talk about being more media savvy to lessen its impact in our lives. We may or may not have power to change the media, but we sure as heck have power to curb its influence over us. Stay tuned, friends.
Comments