xkcd

by **TimelordSimone** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:06 pm UTC

The adverts for comparethemarket.com rely on the logic that a website getting a lot of visitors is somehow a bad thing.

by **Ashlah** » Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:39 pm UTC

Yay for small successes. It is taking a bit though, I saw it on TV here just a couple hours ago.

by **RoadieRich** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:26 am UTC

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCOSFTugYZM

"Fact: some bacteria... can even survive in lava, so think how easily bacteria in your kitchen could survive."

They forget to mention, that if it survives in lava, it almost certainly will die out of lava, so the fact that a cleaning product can kill such "bugs" is moot.

by **Kewangji** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 12:48 am UTC

You, sir, name? wrote:It's strange. Sweden was barely touched by the economic crisis. Unemployment went up a bit in early 2008. But then everything went back to normal in some 6 months. Is it really still going on in some places?

Stop trying to fool yourself. Everything's been going to shit since 2006. And double-shit since 2010. The double-shit is because of that 2008 thing.

I'm not bitter tonight or anything.

On topic: McDonald's and Coca-Cola always do the 'let's show you some nice images and let you associate this nostalgia with our product' thing and it annoys me and I can't stop drinking coke.

by **You, sir, name?** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:15 am UTC

Kewangji wrote:
You, sir, name? wrote:It's strange. Sweden was barely touched by the economic crisis. Unemployment went up a bit in early 2008. But then everything went back to normal in some 6 months. Is it really still going on in some places?

Stop trying to fool yourself. Everything's been going to shit since 2006. And double-shit since 2010. The double-shit is because of that 2008 thing.

Despite the government doing everything in their might to screw things up (leading to most of the shit you're referring to), we're definitely booming right now.

by **Kewangji** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:06 am UTC

Oh just economically? Right. Yes. I guess I read that as something else at first. Though are people are afraid of saying high conjecture because it's one of those hexes, you know? Or is high conjecture something else?

by **Cloud Walker** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:43 am UTC

Ashlah wrote:Yay for small successes. It is taking a bit though, I saw it on TV here just a couple hours ago.

While I agree it's a success that they pulled the commercial, I do not agree with this:

But it saddens me deeply that this ad even got made in the first place. Ads like this one have to be approved by a lot of people before they ever get made, and it’s dispiriting to think that no one, at any stage of the process, noticed that this ad explicitly normalizes and encourages unhealthy behavior.

Because when I watched the commercial, I saw her internal dialogue as comical. Comical dieting vs. sensible dieting. Add this:

The ad then presents Yoplait Lite yoghurt as an alternative to all that bargaining and obsessive and jogging in place, demonstrating the incredibly thin line between dieting and disordered eating.

It's an incredibly thin line, yet it's saddening that the ad was made in the first place? That an incredibly thin line was mistakenly crossed? It doesn't seem sad to me, but rather it seems expected or inevitable due to the incredibly thin line and the majority of reasonable people not having specific knowledge about the psychology of eating disorders.

by **Giant Speck** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 4:51 am UTC

I... never saw a problem with that ad...

As someone who is currently trying to lose weight, I deal with the same internal dialogue every time someone brings treats to work. I think "can I afford to eat this right now? How many calories am I going to have to shave off lunch or dinner to eat this? I wasn't planning to work out today; if I really want this, I'm going to have to work out later."

by **SurgicalSteel** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:43 am UTC

I agree with Giant Speck. She was trying to justify eating a piece of incredibly unhealthy cheesecake, not a sensible food, healthy food.

by **Deva** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:08 am UTC

Feels a bit the same way. Notes that she appears to be slender, however. View the advertisement in your mind if she weighs 100, 175, or 250 pounds. Also reinforces the "lose weight at any cost" mindset. Imagine if she was bartering for the entire cheesecake. "Sprint for three hours straight, and then aerobics for two hours. May only consume celery until tomorrow night. Evens out. Maybe." Becomes unhealthier than the cheesecake itself.

May additionally contain nuances to which I am oblivious. Never developed an eating disorder. Potentially alters where you draw your lines.

by **rrwoods** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 1:45 pm UTC

Hmm... I think I saw the ad the same way.

But the problem with all this is we don't* have eating disorders, so we don't know how close the ad comes to eating disorderly behavior.

[ * apologies to anyone who does and saw the ad as harmless ]

by **Feddlefew** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:08 pm UTC

I've always been bothered by those ads, but because they seemed to be whispering "why eat [actually healthy food] when you could eat [heavily processed dessert flavored "yogurt"]!"

by **The Scyphozoa** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 3:15 pm UTC

TimelordSimone wrote:The adverts for comparethemarket.com rely on the logic that a website getting a lot of visitors is somehow a bad thing.

They also seem to be a direct ripoff (er, if you care enough about advertising to call it a ripoff) of Geico's older commercials. Before the Gecko ~~changed his accent and then~~ actually started working for Geico. Or something.

EDIT: I don't think it "normalizes disordered eating". It shows an example of (what may be considered) disordered eating, and then defeats it.

by **Ashlah** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:38 pm UTC

People here really don't see a problem with that commercial? Or every other food commercial aimed towards women that has ever existed? You don't see a problem with this sort of thinking being normalized among women? We are supposed to always be anxious about eating. Always. We are not allowed to eat what we want to eat because *gasp* we might get fat. Women are not allowed to view eating as an pleasurable experience (unless you're eating low fat/non fat diet-worthy yogurt). I'm not allowed to enjoy a slice of cheesecake once in a while without having a panic attack? These commercials do not, in my eyes, portray women eating healthy or having snacks in moderation. They suggest that women are (and should be) constantly struggling with a diet, and that they should always consider how much weight they will gain/lose based on every little item they eat. I really don't see how people can think this is not problematic.

I understand that some people are currently on diets, and that they can relate to this ad. That doesn't make it right. It's still problematic at a societal level. Some people really are in relationships where the husband is a slob and the wife constantly cleans up after him. That doesn't make it okay that all cleaning product commercials endlessly portray that.

by **SecondTalon** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 5:49 pm UTC

I'd have much preferred one in which the woman was thinking that she wasn't hungry but just wanted to taste the thing rather than her trying to justify eating a slice for five minutes with more and more preposterous bargaining.

"Yogurt Crap! For when you want to taste a thing but don't really want to eat an entire one!"

But I'm not entirely certain that's better.

by **Zarq** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 6:12 pm UTC

You can't really make a commercial about a diet product without it being about dieting.

Although around here, there are commercials about men dieting too, so that might be a difference.

by **podbaydoor** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:08 pm UTC

Quoted from a discussion that I had with Oregonaut:

I hate those yogurt commercials where the naked shaming and blaming is on full display. Only 'matronly' moms get to eat and enjoy good food onscreen. Thin beautiful women orgasm over empty calories.

I think the way it was presented is the problem. The woman wasn't calmly considering her diet and how to realistically fit it into her exercise plan in a sensible way. The tone of desperation and ridiculous plans with celery and jogging implied to the viewer that anyone considering a real cheesecake must be fat and neurotic and have an unhealthy relationship to food. Whereas the person who had the implied "healthy" relationship to food was the one who picked the processed diet product.

The proliferation of these images creates an overall trend where it's implied that only salad or yogurt should make you happy. It's kind of in the same trend where '60s advertisements showed housewives in pretty dresses vacuuming their homes and serving their man. As a free choice, that's okay. But as a message of "this is what you should be doing" it becomes harmful.

It would be far more difficult to find stock photos of attractive women laughing while digging into a turkey leg with gusto.

by **KestrelLowing** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:10 pm UTC

Ashlah wrote:People here really don't see a problem with that commercial? Or every other food commercial aimed towards women that has ever existed? You don't see a problem with this sort of thinking being normalized among women? We are supposed to always be anxious about eating. Always. We are not allowed to eat what we want to eat because *gasp* we might get fat. Women are not allowed to view eating as an pleasurable experience (unless you're eating low fat/non fat diet-worthy yogurt). I'm not allowed to enjoy a slice of cheesecake once in a while without having a panic attack? These commercials do not, in my eyes, portray women eating healthy or having snacks in moderation. They suggest that women are (and should be) constantly struggling with a diet, and that they should always consider how much weight they will gain/lose based on every little item they eat. I really don't see how people can think this is not problematic.

I understand that some people are currently on diets, and that they can relate to this ad. That doesn't make it right. It's still problematic at a societal level. Some people really are in relationships where the husband is a slob and the wife constantly cleans up after him. That doesn't make it okay that all cleaning product commercials endlessly portray that.

I really don't see the problem with the commercial other than it's annoying, but that's pretty much every commercial ever. True, this one happens to be directed at women (as all yoplait are because that's their demographic) but I don't see what the problem is - it's basically just depicting calorie counting. No, the woman wasn't particularly large and possibly didn't really need to diet, but can you imagine what would have happened if she had been? Tons more people would have objected to it.

I think that yoplait is advertising itself as a way to get the taste you want without having to cut calories. Because, let's face it. If you eat a big hunk of cheesecake every other day, you're going to put on some weight unless you're an Olympic athlete.

They're advertising it as a diet product. Is the whole point of things like weight watchers or lite cream cheese a societal problem? I don't think so - I think it's actually helping the society where the average weight is higher than its ever been.

by **podbaydoor** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:17 pm UTC

False. Some people's metabolisms allow them to eat cheesecake every other day and not gain much weight.

It wasn't really the bargaining that bothered me. Thinking through your food choices is what happens when you pay attention to your diet or are trying to accomplish some kind of health goal. What got me was the tone of neurotic desperation of her dialogue, implying that thin beautiful women (the "ideal") should regard real food as poison.

Website · by **Sandry** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:01 pm UTC

An entertaining counterpoint to this: the other day a friend of mine confessed his fiancé's secret for a punishment when he's done something awful - she makes him eat some chocolate-attempting-to-be-dessert yoghurt.

"Have some disgusting Yoplait non-food-terrible-crap-thing and think about what you've done!"

(Also, "who-serves-yoghurt-at-their-wedding?-good". I love Sarah Haskins for calling yoghurt companies on this idiocy.)

by **Ashlah** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:09 pm UTC

Haha, I forgot about that video. I miss Sarah Haskins.

by **Giant Speck** » Fri Jun 17, 2011 9:20 pm UTC

I'm gonna sh*t my pants!

by **The Scyphozoa** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:21 am UTC

I think something weird is happening with the forums, because I swear I posted something here that isn't here anymore. Plus I got logged out for no reason a few minutes ago. Anyway, it was something along the lines of what KestrelLowing said: that's every commercial.

You're supposed to be anxious about what you wear, what toys your children have, what car you drive, how you spend your summer vacation.

EDIT: Hold on a second, the forums didn't log me out. I'm logged out of every site for no reason. So either something's wrong with both the forums and my browser, or I hallucinated posting this, OR, this is somehow offensive and a mod deleted it and forgot to warn me about it (you never know).

by **You, sir, name?** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:26 am UTC

Sandry wrote:(Also, "who-serves-yoghurt-at-their-wedding?-good". I love Sarah Haskins for calling yoghurt companies on this idiocy.)

That was awesome.

by **Magnanimous** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:56 am UTC

You, sir, name? wrote:
Sandry wrote:(Also, "who-serves-yoghurt-at-their-wedding?-good". I love Sarah Haskins for calling yoghurt companies on this idiocy.)

That was awesome.

... I'm going to spend the next hour watching all of these videos.

by **Giant Speck** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 2:59 am UTC

Magnanimous wrote:
You, sir, name? wrote:
Sandry wrote:(Also, "who-serves-yoghurt-at-their-wedding?-good". I love Sarah Haskins for calling yoghurt companies on this idiocy.)

That was awesome.

... I'm going to spend the next hour watching all of these videos.

I've been watching them all day. I just found the chocolate one.

by **You, sir, name?** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:21 am UTC

I keep thinking she should be married to Mike Rowe.

by **Cloud Walker** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 5:32 am UTC

Ditto on watching like a hundred of her videos.

by **folkhero** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 8:54 pm UTC

I must have missed all that eating disorder subtext in that commercial because my brain was working so hard trying to figure out what kind of office has an entire cheesecake minus one or two slices just sitting in the fridge like that.

by **Giant Speck** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:07 pm UTC

folkhero wrote:I must have missed all that eating disorder subtext in that commercial because my brain was working so hard trying to figure out what kind of office has an entire cheesecake minus one or two slices just sitting in the fridge like that.

To be honest, every time I see the commercial, I wonder what kind of office has a big open kitchen like that.

by **Ptolom** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:13 pm UTC

I have to say, that kind of ruminating is very similar to what goes on in the mind of an anorexic. Especially the irrational ideas of canceling out what she eats. The ad isn't actually advocating it; the woman is the foolish character who isn't buying their product, but it does present anxiety and irrational thinking as a reasonable way of making decisions. I've been free of my eating disorder for so long that I'm not really sure to what extent it could affect someone though.

by **folkhero** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:14 pm UTC

Giant Speck wrote:
folkhero wrote:I must have missed all that eating disorder subtext in that commercial because my brain was working so hard trying to figure out what kind of office has an entire cheesecake minus one or two slices just sitting in the fridge like that.

To be honest, every time I see the commercial, I wonder what kind of office has a big open kitchen like that.

Due to the big open kitchen and the cheesecake, it took me at least two viewings to determine that this was, in fact, taking place in an office.

by **Magnanimous** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:18 pm UTC

Giant Speck wrote:
folkhero wrote:I must have missed all that eating disorder subtext in that commercial because my brain was working so hard trying to figure out what kind of office has an entire cheesecake minus one or two slices just sitting in the fridge like that.

To be honest, every time I see the commercial, I wonder what kind of office has a big open kitchen like that.

Clearly, the woman's eating disorder has driven her to schizophrenia. She was actually standing in her kitchen, and the second woman advertising the "yogurt" was her mind's way of justifying eating a raspberry cheesecake.

by **folkhero** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:24 pm UTC

Actually, yogurt commercials make a lot more sense if they all take place in the head of the deranged main character. Why are those women eating yogurt in bridesmaid dresses? Actually it's just one woman eating yogurt in a bridesmaid dress, she put it on because her friend's wedding the last time she felt emotion. The chairs, sunlight and other woman are all in her head.

by **podbaydoor** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:25 pm UTC

Women Laughing Alone With Salad

by **folkhero** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:28 pm UTC

A well known side effect of salad is intense, even overwhelming, euphoria.

by **Giant Speck** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:29 pm UTC

And it's always the first bite or so. I wonder if they're still laughing when they're almost done with the salad, if they haven't choked to death from trying to laugh while eating.

by **Dason** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:33 pm UTC

Magnanimous wrote:
Giant Speck wrote:
folkhero wrote:I must have missed all that eating disorder subtext in that commercial because my brain was working so hard trying to figure out what kind of office has an entire cheesecake minus one or two slices just sitting in the fridge like that.

To be honest, every time I see the commercial, I wonder what kind of office has a big open kitchen like that.

Clearly, the woman's eating disorder has driven her to schizophrenia. She was actually standing in her kitchen, and the second woman advertising the "yogurt" was her mind's way of justifying eating a raspberry cheesecake.

I always wonder what makes her think she can have some of that cheesecake. Clearly it's not hers. Maybe there is an office policy that says you can have anything in the fridge... but that's not how it works anywhere I've been. So basically I just think she's kind of a jerk for thinking she can just take somebody else's cheesecake. And then she goes and steals a yogurt instead... I guess it's a little better cause real cheesecake is amazing and I wouldn't be too happy if somebody just grabbed a bunch of my cheesecake.

So I guess the morale of the commercial is: If you're gonna be a jerk and steal somebody else's food - make it something that nobody cares too much about.

by **podbaydoor** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:36 pm UTC

It could be a cheesecake from one of those communal snack days.

And it's always the first bite or so. I wonder if they're still laughing when they're almost done with the salad, if they haven't choked to death from trying to laugh while eating.

They're not laughing, they're savoring the delicious taste of calorie-free air.

by **Giant Speck** » Sat Jun 18, 2011 9:50 pm UTC

podbaydoor wrote:It could be a cheesecake from one of those communal snack days.

I'm not so sure of that. She seems awfully surprised that the cheesecake is there.

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