By Courtney Cook, Contributor, Chicago Academy for the Arts
As I have flipped through the channels this last weeks, a new commercial by Special K has come up time and time again. In this commercial, women weigh themselves in Times Square and believe their weight will be projected to the thousands of people that visit each day. Once they’re on the scale, eyes closed and fingers clenched, no air in their lungs for hope it’ll squeeze off a few extra ounces, they’re greeted by inspirational words such as “confidence,” “sass,” or “happiness.” These women seem delighted and treat the scale as if it’s a fortune teller. Special K promises that if the women replace two meals a day with Special K, they will achieve that confidence, sass, happiness, and more.
Somehow, I find this hard to believe.
The commercial is intended to promote body positivity and the message that the number on the scale means nothing, which is why they replaced the number with a word that possesses a positive connotation. However, these messages are laced with fat shaming, empty promises, and false advertising. By promising that these women will strengthen their relationships, increase their happiness, and better their self-esteem by losing weight, Special K and other companies like it suggest that those with a higher fat cell count are incapable or unable to possess such confidence or have healthy relationships. This ad is not alone in perpetuating the idea that these qualities are intrinsically tied with weight loss, and this is where the problem lies.
Food is now regarded as the enemy and phrases like “calories: the monsters that sneak in your closet and sew your clothes tighter”, or mantras such as “cute face, tiny waist” run rampant in our society. By perpetuating this idea that food is a monster, major parts of our culture are being ignored. Our culture revolves around food, both physically and socially. Most social encounters include food in one way or another, whether it’s a coffee date or a dinner with friends. However, when we begin to regard food as something forbidden, our entire social life may be affected. Many people have to skip out on event invitations for fear of encountering a “dangerous” food, and not having enough “safe” options. Because of this, friendships are affected and potentially damaged as people work to avoid food hard enough that they put diets before relationships. Dieting with Special K companies does not promote the prosperous relationships that the company promises, but rather does the opposite by leaving us isolated from the world until we believe we are the idealized “sassy”, “happy”, and “confident” version of ourselves.
By losing weight, one does not suddenly gain something else. Fat cells and healthy/happy perspectives of lives, personalities, and bodies do not correlate positively or negatively. Go ahead and step on a scale and have it tell you you’re fabulous, sassy, and confident, but let those qualities speak for themselves without being tied to a number. Better yet, tell yourself that you are all of those things without a scale! At the weight you’re at right now, I am positive you are all that and more, but losing weight to obtain that—who is Special K kidding?
As I have flipped through the channels this last weeks, a new commercial by Special K has come up time and time again. In this commercial, women weigh themselves in Times Square and believe their weight will be projected to the thousands of people that visit each day. Once they’re on the scale, eyes closed and fingers clenched, no air in their lungs for hope it’ll squeeze off a few extra ounces, they’re greeted by inspirational words such as “confidence,” “sass,” or “happiness.” These women seem delighted and treat the scale as if it’s a fortune teller. Special K promises that if the women replace two meals a day with Special K, they will achieve that confidence, sass, happiness, and more.
Somehow, I find this hard to believe.
The commercial is intended to promote body positivity and the message that the number on the scale means nothing, which is why they replaced the number with a word that possesses a positive connotation. However, these messages are laced with fat shaming, empty promises, and false advertising. By promising that these women will strengthen their relationships, increase their happiness, and better their self-esteem by losing weight, Special K and other companies like it suggest that those with a higher fat cell count are incapable or unable to possess such confidence or have healthy relationships. This ad is not alone in perpetuating the idea that these qualities are intrinsically tied with weight loss, and this is where the problem lies.
Food is now regarded as the enemy and phrases like “calories: the monsters that sneak in your closet and sew your clothes tighter”, or mantras such as “cute face, tiny waist” run rampant in our society. By perpetuating this idea that food is a monster, major parts of our culture are being ignored. Our culture revolves around food, both physically and socially. Most social encounters include food in one way or another, whether it’s a coffee date or a dinner with friends. However, when we begin to regard food as something forbidden, our entire social life may be affected. Many people have to skip out on event invitations for fear of encountering a “dangerous” food, and not having enough “safe” options. Because of this, friendships are affected and potentially damaged as people work to avoid food hard enough that they put diets before relationships. Dieting with Special K companies does not promote the prosperous relationships that the company promises, but rather does the opposite by leaving us isolated from the world until we believe we are the idealized “sassy”, “happy”, and “confident” version of ourselves.
By losing weight, one does not suddenly gain something else. Fat cells and healthy/happy perspectives of lives, personalities, and bodies do not correlate positively or negatively. Go ahead and step on a scale and have it tell you you’re fabulous, sassy, and confident, but let those qualities speak for themselves without being tied to a number. Better yet, tell yourself that you are all of those things without a scale! At the weight you’re at right now, I am positive you are all that and more, but losing weight to obtain that—who is Special K kidding?