‘If you’ve been eating burgers and fries all winter, don’t put on your old shorts and strut around like it’s okay, because it’s not. Do your part to keep your town beautiful…(insert something about how wonderful Subway is for you here).’
Do my part to keep my town beautiful? By not getting fat? (And yes, that’s exactly what they were referring to). I generally have a pretty good sense of humor, but not when it comes to topics like this. The media did not by any means cause my eating disorder. But I have to say, they certainly don’t make recovery any easier. Between the plethora of distasteful Subway commercials, the Gold’s Gym ads on the side of the bus telling me I’m too fat, I’ve eaten too much, and need to be at the gym, and the obscene amounts of billboards I pass on the 30 mile drive to work (liposuction, laser hair removal, breast enhancement, teeth whitening, blemish removal, and vein repair to name a few), I don’t know how girls these days have a chance. After three rounds at Center for Change I’ve had enough body image classes with Nicole Hawkins to make me want to fight back. And yet, I sometimes feel defeated. 
I know advertising companies spend a lot of money to make us feel bad about ourselves. If we feel good about ourselves just as we are, why would we need their product? From that standpoint I get it. It’s their job. But it makes me sad. It makes me sad that these advertisements encourage girls and boys, women and men of all ages to feel inferior…not good enough. It makes me sad that there are so many people out there like me…like all the amazing, wonderful girls I’ve met in treatment, who are bombarded with these ads daily while trying so hard to believe that we are in fact okay. I’m thankful for the recording artists I’ve heard more recently speaking out in their lyrics about self acceptance…
Lady Gaga, with ‘Born This Way’
Selena Gomez, with ‘Who Says’
And my favorite...Pink’s ‘Fuck’n Perfect’
I love love LOVE Pink’s music video, but won’t post it here as parts of it could be triggering. I will however post a clip from ‘The Voice’, another one of those reality singing shows that I’ve been sucked into! I love the harmonies, but moreso I love the passion. This is the passion that inspires me; that makes me believe I’m not the only out there fighting in this world; that gives me the strength to keep standing up when I feel like I've been beaten down.
I find it so sad that adverts these days purposely make us feel bad. I remember reading an advert that just insult people that wear glasses and then try and sell contact lenses. Urgh.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE lady gaga's born this way. So positive.
xxx
I love the song Fuckin Perfect!! I love her video too, but it IS triggering. This version was pretty cool too.
ReplyDeleteIt also makes me crazy to read (and watch and listen to) advertisements that make people feel like crap. I can't remember what the commercial was, but I remember seeing it and then thinking of you: A friend in the hospital, fighting for your life, and some stupid asshole marketer is out to get rich and doesn't care who he hurts in the process.
I think that is when I became a sign-thief.
It said, "Lose a half-a-pound a day or more!"
I picked it up, put it in my trunk, and drove away. I came up with the idea to put temporary signs (as I don't like facing charges of vandalism) over a bunch of ads like that one that say, "You're beautiful!"
Haven't done it...yet...
You're awesome Jen! If you ever decide to follow through with that sign idea I'd love to be your accomplice!
ReplyDeleteAmen to the stupidity of the Subway commercials. They too make me want to SCREAM!
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