We’re no strangers to seeing advertisements and commercials of men grilling meat and women smiling about a low-calorie yogurt. But do we look beyond the images and ask why men take big, hearty bites out of hamburgers and women pose with salad bowls? (No seriously, why do women seem so elated to eat salads? There's even a blog dedicated to the flood of photos.)
Susan Bordo in Hunger as Ideology makes several critical points regarding gendered eating. She approaches the essay by examining a French commercial for Fiber Thin bar. The two French girls dressed up in their mother's clothes admire the other ones mother for being "so slim, so beautiful" and they take delight in the knowledge of dietary supplements. The two immediate concerns Bordo addresses are the alarming realization of how early on girls are forced to care about their body image and how women are praised for eating little and embracing dietary supplements.
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| The idea that women eat much healthier than men is a cultural stereotype. Photo by: Levon Biss |
Just out of curiosity and for comparison, I decided to google images of the phrase "food for men" and "food for women." For the former search, I didn't have to scroll down very long to come across big portions of steak and burgers. As for the latter, the imagery of women surrounded by fruits and vegetables were endless. Further research revealed that advertisers and marketers take advantage of the food and gender stereotype and target men to promote junk food, Snickers, and
Mars Bars while target women to sell healthier and sweeter food such as yogurt, salad, Hershey Kisses, cupcakes and etc.
Recently, Yoplait has released a commercial, featuring Dominic Purcell, star of the show Prison Break, to clear up some misconceptions about the Greek yogurt. In this tv spot, he shows his hangry face and post-yogurt face (although there's no difference or altercation from the tough guy image). It is nice to see a male eating the yogurt for once instead of a woman. Purcell reveals a tiny spoon and has a taste. He looks no different now than he did before satisfying his hunger, which is unnerving and also humorous. But he describes the product as "a little fluffy cloud in [his] mouth," and while he remains a muscular, tough man, he has now gained access to his softer, calmer side. My critique of this ad is the exaggerated hungry, male image. Why do women have digestive issues when they pitch for a yogurt commercial but men have hunger?
These dietary segregations made me question whether such practices are carried out in other countries. In this Salon article, Brian Wansink, the director of Cornell University's Food and Brand lab explain that people "are more likely to eat a food when they associate it with qualities they'd like to see in themselves. So a man who wants to be strong and masculine is more likely to eat a food described as strong and masculine--hence the prevalence in American culture of meat as a manly food." We have the luxury to view food as something commercial because we've never experienced a food shortage. For us, food is an "extension of [our] identity" (as is body image).
Nowadays, besides tv, thanks to the internet, there's a whole another space to explore information about a myriad of dietary routines and view slender female body types. Maggie Wykes and Barrie Gunter in The Media and Body Image discuss the danger of perpetuating a particular body type--"Some one in five American young girls even articulated a desire to emulate the skinny stars of the mass media world, accepting them as role models not becuase they were fit but because they were perceived as attractive" (217). This sort of outlook doesn't only affect the young minds. They stay with us as we grow older and continue to haunt us.
I don't know if there's a solution to the obssession with diet and body image. The messages these ads (like the one above) convey about gender stereotypes and objectification doesn't effect the advertisters and if it did, they would come up with other ways to generate profit. But can you imagine a world where we cared about ourselves for health's sake and not for physical beauty? Sure we can educate the younger generation so that whenever they come across giant yellow billboards fat-shaming women, they heed them with a bright yellow caution tape instead. But will that be enough?
Works Cited:
Bordo, Susan. "Hunger as Ideology."
Shah, Riddhi. "Men eat meat, women eat chocolate: How food gets gendered." Salon. July1, 2010. Web.
Wykes, Maggie and Barrie Gunter. "The Media and Body Image."
Mars Bars while target women to sell healthier and sweeter food such as yogurt, salad, Hershey Kisses, cupcakes and etc.
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| Yoplait Greek 100 launches a new commercial and it satisfies Purcell's manly hunger. |
These dietary segregations made me question whether such practices are carried out in other countries. In this Salon article, Brian Wansink, the director of Cornell University's Food and Brand lab explain that people "are more likely to eat a food when they associate it with qualities they'd like to see in themselves. So a man who wants to be strong and masculine is more likely to eat a food described as strong and masculine--hence the prevalence in American culture of meat as a manly food." We have the luxury to view food as something commercial because we've never experienced a food shortage. For us, food is an "extension of [our] identity" (as is body image).
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| Back in 2011, a Georgia organization Strong4Life launched an ad campaign concerning childhood obesity. This ad exercises in fat-shaming to draw attention to the cause. |
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| This "Beach Body" campaign by the nutritional supplement company the Protein World launched this ad in NYC just last year. |
Works Cited:
Bordo, Susan. "Hunger as Ideology."
Shah, Riddhi. "Men eat meat, women eat chocolate: How food gets gendered." Salon. July1, 2010. Web.
Wykes, Maggie and Barrie Gunter. "The Media and Body Image."
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