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The Special K "Diet"
12:12 PM Posted In advertisements , feminism , health care , misogyny , weight Edit This 5 Comments »There is a commercial on right now as Kellogg's does its usual "It's the New Year's so you have to lose weight NOW! And we're a valid healthy lifestyle, so eat Special K!" Now I normally ignore marketing ploys because I like to think that I am intelligent enough to see right through them, but this one sent my blood pressure through the roof.
Since I cannot find it anywhere, not even on YouTube, I will describe it to you. A mother and her daughter are sitting at a child-sized table set complete with chairs, doing cutesy crafty things. The mother, whom I estimate to be a size 6 at the very most, stands up to get the phone. But alas! The toddler-sized chair is stuck to her obviously huge ass! The horror! She does what any sensible woman does in this situation: she runs to the kitchen for a bowl of Special K.
Yes, ladies, because you cannot fit into your four year old's chair you are fat and should eat our product. Logic FAIL.
Most sane people would simply change the channel and leave it at that. But, as we all know, I am not sane. What do I do? I write Kellogg's.
Since I cannot find it anywhere, not even on YouTube, I will describe it to you. A mother and her daughter are sitting at a child-sized table set complete with chairs, doing cutesy crafty things. The mother, whom I estimate to be a size 6 at the very most, stands up to get the phone. But alas! The toddler-sized chair is stuck to her obviously huge ass! The horror! She does what any sensible woman does in this situation: she runs to the kitchen for a bowl of Special K.
Yes, ladies, because you cannot fit into your four year old's chair you are fat and should eat our product. Logic FAIL.
Most sane people would simply change the channel and leave it at that. But, as we all know, I am not sane. What do I do? I write Kellogg's.
"To whom it may concern,
I am writing in regards to a commercial recently aired which I found grossly offensive. In this advertisement, there is a woman who evidently finds herself to be grossly overweight because she cannot fit into a child-sized chair.
As women we are already bombarded with enough negative body imagery without being told that if we are larger than our young daughter we are too fat. Now if it had been an adult's chair, or an actually plus-sized woman, it might have been an appropriate message.
But as it stands, you obviously believe your target audience to have the common sense of a toad in order to fall for such faulty logic.
Rest assured that I will encourage everyone I know not to buy your products as a result,
SLiver of Jade"
5 comments:
It's hilarious! Give me a break, it's showing she sat down to make Christmas goodies and now Christmas is over and she can't get back up. She noticed a few pounds on and is doing something about it. It's a lot easier to loose a couple pounds then let it go and have more to loose. Get over it.......enjoy the humor!
Let me guess, you are male and have not been subjected to the inundation of "You have to maintain a size zero and resemble highly airbrushed models in order to be attractive to the opposite sex, which you must be at all times, and if not then you are worthless as a woman" since birth.
Have you even seen what's in Special K? (Hint: it's one of the links). And in order to get the "desired" results, you have to replace TWO meals a day with a bowl of their cereal, essentially starving one's self of necessary nutrients and sufficient vegetables and fruits.
So you're saying that the actress was indeed fat for not fitting into a miniature chair? So she should lose a few pounds and then... "have more to lose"?
I am not decrying a healthy lifestyle here by, oh I dunno, actually eating a healthy and balanced diet (which is damn near impossible with conventional foods leading to widespread obesity and diabetes) and perhaps getting off of the couch and getting some exercise.
This is what I find funny, not a crappy commercial: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/29/the-dumbest-quotes-of-the_n_405836.html?slidenumber=k937TPjX274%3D&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Give me a break. There's nothing wrong with trying to lose a few pounds. That woman is pretty but there's nothing wrong with trying to stay that way.
*Headdesk* Evidently you did not even read as to what is wrong with the situation. An average grown woman should not consider herself fat because she cannot fit into a chair designed for a little girl. I have nothing against someone trying maintain a healthy weight. Telling women that they need to lose weight in order to resemble children is not only ridiculous but promotes pedophilia.
Good for you, SLiver of Jade, for making your voice heard! I just saw this ad while watching videos on msnbc.com and it never ceases to amaze me how low companies will go to sell their products. This ad is not only insulting to the natural bodies of women (adults whose mature hips were necessary to carry and birth children, not fit into children's furniture) but also to their intellects as well. It assumes that women want to stay undeveloped and if they do not manage to keep their behind as small as they were when they were 6 yrs. old, then they better run out and buy some undeservedly hyped up box of cereal. Stupid. And everytime I've looked at the nutrition guide of Special K, I wonder what the hell is so special about it? Nothing.
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