Sociological Images

Sociological Images

After looking over the website, "Sociological images" I have decided to look at the diet and exercise industry. The diet and exercise industry puts a lot of pressure on women, and men alike, to be thin through their advertisements.  As a marketing technique it seems as if the exercise industry is being prejudice towards bigger people by making them feel like less of a person for being bigger. In this industry unfortunately discrimination is used to make money off of those who do not meet the "standards" of those creating the advertisements. In this essay I will examine three images through the website that demean people for being big and then create a false image that people are supposed to strive for. 

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/08/08/diet-food-for-kids/

The first image that I will be looking at is geared towards the health of children. It shows 2 chocolate dessert boxes, one with a Cars theme and the other with a princess theme. These deserts are promoted by Disney and claim to only have 80 calories. There are a few things wrong that I see with this image. The fact that the boxes have the Disney logo on it alongside a banner that says 80 calories tells me that Disney has an indirect effect on the discrimination of bigger children. The two boxes contain the same exact treat however they are promoted to two different genders, the Cars theme for boys and the princess theme for girls. If we focus on the girls we see a picture of three thin princesses on the box which may give the impression to young girls that if they eat these 80 calorie snacks they will be as thin as a princess.  The problem is that it is mainly the adults who are worried about the calories their children take in and by buying these "diet" snacks for their children, their children may correlate all snacks, whether diet or not, as being healthy.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/12/16/auntie-annes-tells-teens-how-to-excuse-their-indulgence/

This image is an interesting advertisement by Auntie Anne's that exploits teenager’s problems by giving them the impression that the only solution is to eat one of their pretzels. The types of problems that are written on the poster are, "My mermaid braid soooo isn't working!", "My almost-boyfriend dumped me", and "I'll run another lap during P.E.". This advertisement introduces the theory that eating will make a person feel better and that they should eat when they are feeling down. This is a terrible thing for a company to reinforce because there are thousands of individuals who struggle with this issue.

http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/06/24/what-exercise-is-for-depends-on-who-you-are/

The last image that I will be looking at illustrates the fact that in 1957 people were concerned about the same things they are today when in comes to health and fitness. It is an advertisement for an exercise bike that has 4 different types of people on top of four different bikes. The four people are an older woman, an older man, a fit younger man, and a younger woman.  Next to each person are four different reasons to ride the exercise bike pertaining to each individual. The older man should ride the bike to stay active, the woman to stay slender, the man to keep strong, and the older woman to stay young. This was a smart marketing campaign in 1957 in which it fills the desire of people to assimilate with the rest of America by creating the false image that everybody is thin and that everybody should look the way those do in the advertisement.

All of these images, ranging from older ones to those directed at the young, are examples of ads that contribute to a wider pattern of discrimination that clearly has been going on since the 1950's. The false idea that people need to look a certain way has only lined the pockets of many CEOs who are in the diet, beauty, and health industry. This type of discrimination against bigger people can not only be seen in advertisements but television, magazines and billboards. This country is very health conscience and it is unfortunate that there are companies who create this ideal only to prosper and make money off of it.