21th Century America has focused it attention to end poverty, eliminateilliteracy, and fight for peace throughout the world. As billions are being spent to help those problem, another BIG American problem is getting it's fair share of dollar being spent towards it as well. The market for a "skinny America" is through the roof. Everyone wants to drop their 15 pounds and have that sexy sleek beach body that so much of plastic Hollywood has! It's a billion dollar industry and in a America where Coca-Cola (1) and McDonalds (6) reign supreme in the rankings of the most valuable brands in the World, there is no avoidance from the obesity plaguing in the US.
America has this obsession over beauty and weight where channels like MTV and E! analyze so much celebrities and even breaking them down because they've gotten a bit pudgy. Shows like NBC's The Biggest Loser which has an average of 9.39 million viewer in it's nine season has dominated America's love of watching people drop the weight. Liposuction has become a fan favorite in the markets and where shows like Niptuck on FX rule prime-time cable and towards a bigger market with Fox's 2004 reality television show the The Swan, America has found these loopholes to get to the "beautiful side!" Enhancements gives everyone that's sex appeal of the hour glass figure people so desperately want. In the video below for Yoplait Yogurt, it shows a women waiting all winter to fit into this yellow polka-dot bikini hanging on her wall by eating yogurt. It's shows a very health conscience society we live in today because with so many obese people in the US, nobody wants to be apart of a group that's at risk of diabetes or heart disease!
The media embracement over cosmetic surgery is very high. A woman like Pamela Anderson who got a breast augmentation became the sex icon of the 90s because of it. It does wonder with peoples careers when used correctly. Another route is dieting pills, which the industry is growing rapidly. Store like GNC has become homes to many weight-trainers trying to get an extra boost to look fit. Even children are at a piece of the market with little gummy vitamins that they find as a nice treat! The things is with the future of America is this land that said to have robots replace humans at the work place or how cars replaced walking for transportation, pills and plastic surgeries are doing the same with exercising and working out, it's another way for making it easy on yourselves!
Good - all these ads have to do with "artificial" enhancements to one's body. Pay especially close attention to the way in which narrative and visual cues are used to entice the viewer.
ReplyDeleteAlso, #s 1 and 2 are particularly interesting because the paintings they depict show us that beauty was DIFFERENT in other eras, that full bodies were painted because they were beautiful, and it'd be interesting to explore what these ads are doing to this history.