Ranting at the TV
LCM bars make me yell at the television. You know, those empty sugar and carbohydrate bars that are supposed to make parents feel good about overfeeding their kids on crap? I’ve just seen an ad for them on TV, and I figured that while I was still simmering with rage, I’d share it all with you.
Don’t get me wrong - some advertising agency deserves every dollar it wrung out of their client for those ads - they’re brilliant. The subtle way they manage to suggest that LCM bars are somehow good for children without actually contravening any advertising laws is amazing.
It’s no wonder this society has a problem with obesity.
Take Nutella ads, as well. The tagline ‘energy for learning’ gets me furiously angry. Yes, Nutella is a reasonably low Glycaemic index food. Do you know why that is? It’s because, in addition to all the sugar in there, is chocked full of FAT. That’s right - despite supposedly being ‘packed full of hazelnuts’, the two main ingredients in Nutella are peanut oil and sugar. Don’t mention that in the ads, do they? No, it’s all hazelnuts and skim milk, when what you’re basically getting is sugar, two different types of peanut oil (one of which has been linked to an increased risk of cancer), and some hazelnuts and chocolate for flavouring.
Now, I actually like eating Nutella, occasionally - it’s tasty, in a fatty, hazelnut and chocolate way. I’ve never eaten an LCM bar, but they’re also probably quite tasty. What I object to is the shameless promotion of foods as unequivocally healthy, when they’re fairly obviously not.
And, naturally, it’s not as simple as ‘the media is responsible for our obesity’. They’re playing on our gullibility, yes. But that situation won’t change, until we take responsibility for our health and our diets. It’s a vicious circle, and the only way to begin to break it starts with us - whether it’s our diet, or our cigarettes, or the exercise we know we should do. We all have something we’d like to be different in ourselves - what is it for you?
And what would you like to do instead?
Don’t get me wrong - some advertising agency deserves every dollar it wrung out of their client for those ads - they’re brilliant. The subtle way they manage to suggest that LCM bars are somehow good for children without actually contravening any advertising laws is amazing.
It’s no wonder this society has a problem with obesity.
Take Nutella ads, as well. The tagline ‘energy for learning’ gets me furiously angry. Yes, Nutella is a reasonably low Glycaemic index food. Do you know why that is? It’s because, in addition to all the sugar in there, is chocked full of FAT. That’s right - despite supposedly being ‘packed full of hazelnuts’, the two main ingredients in Nutella are peanut oil and sugar. Don’t mention that in the ads, do they? No, it’s all hazelnuts and skim milk, when what you’re basically getting is sugar, two different types of peanut oil (one of which has been linked to an increased risk of cancer), and some hazelnuts and chocolate for flavouring.
Now, I actually like eating Nutella, occasionally - it’s tasty, in a fatty, hazelnut and chocolate way. I’ve never eaten an LCM bar, but they’re also probably quite tasty. What I object to is the shameless promotion of foods as unequivocally healthy, when they’re fairly obviously not.
And, naturally, it’s not as simple as ‘the media is responsible for our obesity’. They’re playing on our gullibility, yes. But that situation won’t change, until we take responsibility for our health and our diets. It’s a vicious circle, and the only way to begin to break it starts with us - whether it’s our diet, or our cigarettes, or the exercise we know we should do. We all have something we’d like to be different in ourselves - what is it for you?
And what would you like to do instead?