(no subject)
Being a pseudo-diet has made me much more aware of marketing campaigns and pricing that aim toward unhealthy food. Last Friday night Beth and I went to Santikos (a local movie theater chain) and inside the lobby was an employee wearing a Santikos T-shirt standing behind the table piled high with the same shirts. Behind her there was a giant sign that said, “Ask about free popcorn.” Being a sucker for all stuff free, Beth and I went over to investigate. We found out that the current promotion the theater was running was to give a free medium popcorn to anyone wearing a Santikos shirt. The shirt costs $20 and can be used up until the end of the year. Beth and I were both kind of excited at the thought of saving quite a bit of money since we come to the theater so often but then as I thought about it some more, I thought about how sad it is that such a promotion even exists. Granted it’s a great deal for families of four that come in and can share a medium popcorn, but how often can those families really afford a $9+ ticket?
Instead, it’s going to be those people that come in all the time, either alone or with some other person, that take advantage of this, and honestly, a medium popcorn is not meant to be eaten alone (or even shared with one other person). Even a small popcorn alone is quite excessive but the thought of getting a free medium is just hard for anyone sensible to pass up. So now the same people that would have normally gotten a small popcorn (or none at all) are consuming all the calories of a medium popcorn just because it’s free. It reminds me of this family I used to serve all the time when I worked at Regal. The father and mother would both order a large popcorn EACH and the teenage son and daughter would order a medium popcorn EACH, and then all four would have their own large drinks. You don’t need to see these people to know what they looked like.
After Beth and I passed up on the opportunity for free medium popcorn for the rest of the year, I asked her what happens if after a month the person wearing the shirt can’t fit in it anymore and we both laughed a bit. But sadly, I’m sure that thought went through some marketing agent’s mind and I’m sure his eyes lit up at the prospect of someone spending $20 each month for a bigger shirt.
Okay, so something like that can be avoided, but what irks me is having to pay more for healthier things at the grocery store. I don’t even mean special items that are all-natural or safe for the environment or dolphin safe or whatever, I just mean common items like mayonnaise or cheese, which are two things I wound up paying double for last time I went to the store. Both items were even on sale but for some reason that sale didn’t extend to their fat-free counterparts. So the choice is either pay $1.50 for a bottle of regular mayonnaise or fork over $3 for the same size bottle that’s fat-free. Not a decision that’s going to thrust people into the poor house, I know, but it does make me see why people don’t choose healthier options. It’s not the best choice to make economically. Yet ironically enough, “extended sizes” for pants and shirts costs more.
Oh, and then there was this article I read online from Time magazine about how exercising doesn’t help with weight loss. The author’s reasoning behind such a statement is that she feels like exercise only increases our hunger and it causes us to eat more than we regularly would. I can almost agree with that, but she continues to say how people justify eating bad food because they use working out as an excuse and that after people work out they don’t want to eat salad, they want to eat pizza. To me that sounds more like a total lack of will power on the part of the person, not a total lack of result from exercise.
Instead, it’s going to be those people that come in all the time, either alone or with some other person, that take advantage of this, and honestly, a medium popcorn is not meant to be eaten alone (or even shared with one other person). Even a small popcorn alone is quite excessive but the thought of getting a free medium is just hard for anyone sensible to pass up. So now the same people that would have normally gotten a small popcorn (or none at all) are consuming all the calories of a medium popcorn just because it’s free. It reminds me of this family I used to serve all the time when I worked at Regal. The father and mother would both order a large popcorn EACH and the teenage son and daughter would order a medium popcorn EACH, and then all four would have their own large drinks. You don’t need to see these people to know what they looked like.
After Beth and I passed up on the opportunity for free medium popcorn for the rest of the year, I asked her what happens if after a month the person wearing the shirt can’t fit in it anymore and we both laughed a bit. But sadly, I’m sure that thought went through some marketing agent’s mind and I’m sure his eyes lit up at the prospect of someone spending $20 each month for a bigger shirt.
Okay, so something like that can be avoided, but what irks me is having to pay more for healthier things at the grocery store. I don’t even mean special items that are all-natural or safe for the environment or dolphin safe or whatever, I just mean common items like mayonnaise or cheese, which are two things I wound up paying double for last time I went to the store. Both items were even on sale but for some reason that sale didn’t extend to their fat-free counterparts. So the choice is either pay $1.50 for a bottle of regular mayonnaise or fork over $3 for the same size bottle that’s fat-free. Not a decision that’s going to thrust people into the poor house, I know, but it does make me see why people don’t choose healthier options. It’s not the best choice to make economically. Yet ironically enough, “extended sizes” for pants and shirts costs more.
Oh, and then there was this article I read online from Time magazine about how exercising doesn’t help with weight loss. The author’s reasoning behind such a statement is that she feels like exercise only increases our hunger and it causes us to eat more than we regularly would. I can almost agree with that, but she continues to say how people justify eating bad food because they use working out as an excuse and that after people work out they don’t want to eat salad, they want to eat pizza. To me that sounds more like a total lack of will power on the part of the person, not a total lack of result from exercise.