INSECURITY or just a deep SLUMBER?

First Things First. I am sorry if my last post offended anyone.Forgive me, I am just a 23 year old.:-).

Confession --> Out of my mind, I think I launched a personal attack on a woman in my previous post.I dint mean to, I just wanted to comment on her post, not on her, but yeah! I am not perfect.I kind of messed up out there, and someone actually called me a racist :-( (But sometimes, I do feel I am a Racist, ya I am an EVIL nvm :-) ).

Chances are I was wrong, my only reason to believe this is I don't think I have a support.:-(.

I couldn't help but dissect IHM's post. I am just presenting my Arguments.


IHM's post in blue
My views in Red


"Chikki's post on a woman's concern over an advertisement for a low calories cereal made me wonder how much are we affected by the way our advertisers want us to look"


Well, no, it is actually the other way round. Advertisers have no personal interest in making us look good or UN-FAT (I choosed not to say THIN, because we are talking about that specific Ad, and it promises only 2.5Kgs Reduction in 2 weeks, that won't make us THIN, Please! ). I will tell you what those marketing guys would have probably thought --> They were pretty sure that lots of people want to get thinner ( please!! deep inside, most fat people do wish they were thin ) and they are willing to spend an amazingly huge amount on that ( I don't think we still know how much VLCC earns, those programs are so expensive). So, why not lets market something which can make you loose some extra pounds (No arguments regarding if that will actually make you thinner, we are just talking about the Ad being "demeaning"-supposedly).


You get my point,?

ITS NOT

Ads --> Pressure to look good.

IT IS

Our Will to look better --> marketing ideas based on that --> Ads

So, lets not blame the Ad for the pressure in 1st place.


"The pressure is not to look good, but to look a certain way. Fair and Thin. Perfect teeth. All fine except that there are a lot of good looking people who do not fall into this set mold."


what pressure?Well, Again, there is No pressure!! I mean, no one can pressurise you without your consent.The Colgate Ads are exerting pressure on us for perfect teeth?No.I have never heard that before, seriously! Not even in my dreams did I think, The Ads pressurise us to look in a certain way. LOOKING GOOD IS A PERSONAL CHOICE, FOR SOME IT IS VERY IMPORTANT AS TO HOW THEY LOOK, SOME JUST DON'T CARE. IF WE ARE FEELING THE PRESSURE BECAUSE OF COLGATE, KELLOGG Ads, THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WRONG WITH OUR SENSE OF SECURITY.
We shouldn't really Blame Ads, they are there to sell.Get real.


NO ONE CAN HURT YOU WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT.


"Some of these advertisements can make our lives revolve around our weight loss. . . "


OK, again! I Think we should all be in total control of our lives, IF WE ARE LETTING OUR LIVES REVOLVE AROUND Ads, TRUST ME, DON'T BLAME Ads, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH US.


"And our children will grow up believing thin(not healthy) is beautiful".


No, THIN is not same as NOT-FAT. we are talking about us being NOT-FAT. and FAT IS DEFINITELY NOT HEALTHY.


"A perfectly healthy woman can be made to feel too fat if she does not fit a certain size"


Really?Nooo...


I really pity that Ad now, All the poor bechara Ad said was "loose 2.5Kgs". :-(


"It starts with 'thin is healthy', although being too thin or even undernourished, is not any healthier than being too fat."


Under-Nourished? Some quick facts --> 6 out of 10 women in India are anemic ( well, most of them don't even know this and its definitely not limited to poor). That is Under-Nourished. But that is not the point.
FAT IS UNHEALTHY. Don't buy the product if you think you are not fat , simple! Why would someone wanna ban the whole Ad itself?


"It isn't really about being beautiful either, because many women are not skinny and they look great. (Including Jenifer Lopez, Lindsay Lohan, Mumtaz, many of our older film stars.)"


This is not fair, we are talking about BEING UN-FAT. Where did 'SKINNY' came in from?At least that's how I interpreted the Ad, it was always about loosing extra pounds, not being Skinny.
And again, isn't this our choice what we want to be -->Skinny, or healthy? Its an Ad..Buy the product according to your needs. Government of India is not coming out with a law to buy Kellogg's K and become thinner (not thin , thinner Is what I said!).


"Why then are we so obsessed with being thin?"


Exactly...Its us who are obsessed (well, some of us at least)! and this is precisely what Kellogg's knew, why are we blaming the Ad for pressurising us??Its so not Justified.I just don't get it.If I was the CEO of that company, I would probably give a promotion to someone who came up with that campaign.


"I think it is just a trend. Today we wonder at the Chinese binding their little girls feet, or at corsets that made Victorian women forever breathless (And gave Scarlett O'Hara her famous 17" waist).
Nature couldn't possibly have meant all women (men too) to be the same size?!"


Being thin MIGHT be a trend, but it is for us to follow it or not.However, if you can see to it that you keep yourself fit , UN-FAT, it would be wonderful. Its High time, we know the disadvantages of being FAT and do something about it instead of cursing the whole world for calling us FAT.


"Years from today our future generations will talk abut how women were coerced to starve and look anorexic (or be anorexic) and fit into standard sized clothes."


You really don't wanna take this line back?what was this IHM?:-)


"What can be more beautiful than good health?
Good health would mean you can run up a flight of stairs without feeling out of breath. Good health does not mean being size zero."


Yes, don't be size-zero . Clearly its our personal choice. But ya, FAT IS UNHEALTHY, LETS FACE IT. No pressure to become UN-FAT, but its for our own good, that we realise FAT IS UNHEALTHY.


Something, I wanna add from my personal experience, You know, of all the people I have met --> Western, Koreans, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian, Malaysians, Australians, etc etc, take my words, Indians are the one who are least worried about their health, we are the ones who are ignorant about advantages of staying fit,we are the ones with bulging tummies :) -- Generally.


I was surprised to see the kind of priority these people give to their fitness regime, you won't believe the distance people here can run on the field, I was really embarrassed on the field, No Kidding, but even the Grandmas and Granddads run more than me :-( ( Ya, I run 3kms without stopping, not so bad , right? well, apparently it is). I don't feel PRESSURISED to run more though, On the contrary, I am plainly impressed, and try jogging at least 3-4 times a week.


"And good health with good grooming can make anybody look their best. Without having to starve for it."


Well,,don't Starve!! Just avoid FATS..Try Fruits...that's not Starving, is it?



Its for us to realise the importance of being NOT-FAT, YES, ITS NOT HEALTHY, TRY GOOGLING FOR MORE INFO! Don't feel pressurised, Just for your own good, please Wake up, Don't blame Ads, don't crib about people calling you fat, don't try giving excuses to yourself, consult a dietitian if you are worried about being UNDER-NOURISHED while pursuing it, and please Don't blame the Ad, just Ignore it if you hate it. Chances are others out there might wanna give it a try!

Kellogg's Special K, and Body Image Issues

Another disturbing perspective.Disturbing for me at least!Or I just plainly did not understand it.

The original post is here

Don't worry, I have not edited anything from there.Double quoting everything again.

My words in Red

Her words in Blue

"Yesterday just as we sat down at Coffee Day my seven year old eyed me and told me with twinkling eyes "Ma, You are fat." I gasped for breath. I asked him where he had heard about fat. He shook his head and gave me his usual - Don't know and dug into his Black Forest Cake."

"I wasn't about to give him an explanation about fitting into a size 12 jeans after 4 months of rigorous work outs or that giving birth to him, his sister and taking care of them had made me 'fat'. I wasn't going down the defensive mode with a 7 year old child."

"I was more interested in knowing where he had come across the concept of body image. And it didn't take me long." 

Was going fine till here!!

"Today while the kids watched toons on POGO the Special K ad rolled in. And before my horrified eyes"

"Horrified eyes" ?? Why the over reaction?1st shock.

"I heard a small girl talking about her mom looking like Aishwarya Rai and her mom laughed and said she had lost two kilos by being on Special K. The little angel ranted about her mom looking the prettiest in the school and my mouth hung open."

So???

"Little angel Ranting"?? what?? I think you are the one who's ranting.

"What kind of shit was this? I looked at my son and then back at the TV. "

What Just happened?Anyone??No, seriously, a reaction of that sort, there has to be some reason, I am so confused, Can someone please explain it to me, what could have been going on inside her head?I am serious!! I am not getting into an argument, I just wana know, what is it that my brain completely refuses to understand??

"It was bad enough that cable channels were feeding shit to our kids about junk food but now we had cereals sneaking in body image neurosis to our underage children."

I am not married, but when I do get married and have kids, I don't think I am gonna start Blaming the whole bad world around me . After all what will my duty as a father be? Teach my child the difference between right and wrong. 

And please, what do you expect? Mc Donalds, Burger Kings, Cokes, Pepsis,  to be banned?

"Body-image neurosis"??Will someone Please quickly explain me what this women is going through??I don't think I will be able to concentrate on my work before I know, what struck her. All her kid said was "you are fat", which chances are, she is.

"Where is the protest from parents about these sorts of ads? Maybe its time Kellogg's was taken to court for propagating unhealthy habits to our kids. Can you imagine a kid asking just for sugary cereals for 2 meals to be skinny?"

"propagating unhealthy habits to our kids"??.. What just happened?The topic just changed, I thought its all about her son calling her fat and her getting hurt because of the truth.

"Can you imagine a kid asking just for sugary cereals for 2 meals to be skinny?"?? When did that happen?Again, I thought it was all about your kid calling you fat as you start your post with.And its not "skinny", its HEALTHY for god sake!! Do Indians still believe FAT IS HEALTHY or what???

"Anyone who has tasted Special K would tell you that its like sugary wood shavings. And to be on a cereal diet is the worst thing one can do to their body. Eating right and exercising is the best way to leading a healthy life."

Now, I have not tasted Special K or whatever, but if you don't like it, don't buy it anymore, why cry about the Ad?I mean, its pure marketing.No, what am I arguing!! What were we discussing?What is going on here!! Are you not satisfied with the product or fuming over the fact that your kid called you fat or are you not happy with Fast food chains?Whats going on,,,someone plz??

"Once the ad finished I spoke to my son and told him that not everything that is seen on TV is the truth. And that having a fat or skinny mother doesn't make the child happy, what makes a child happy is having a mommy who loves him."

Yes, but when did he say that he doesn't like you as a mom?whats wrong with you ladyyy!!!Are you just insecure about your looks?

I am sorry, I couldn't just control my feelings there.:(

"And that if I ever heard him say those words to anyone I would personally come and teach him the meaning of respect."

"Respect"? I am really crying now. He was just being Candid!! You are not not going to teach him any respect, you are gonna teach him to be politically right and at his age, plzzzz..we prefer kids being candid than being politically right.

IHM, You are a mother right? Am I gonna be a bad father? or plz tell me you agree with me!!:)

"He looked at me with big saucer eyes and asked 'Why?"

Like Duh!!! Anyone would!!!

"I replied that it was the meanest and most hurtful thing to say and he wasn't a mean boy."

Hmmm...Now I know, she's just pissed that her son called her fat.But truth issss bitter.Lets face it. Go gyming instead of cribbing about it.phew!

"His mind switched gears when he realized his mother was done lecturing and asked if he could go out and play. I nodded absentmindedly, still upset about the kind of bogeymen we were letting into our homes via kiddie channels."

Lady, you have no idea what you are blabbering.

I really want to know the other side too.If someone feels the way, the lady above does, please explain it to me too. I really wana know.