From the moment I plonked myself in front of the display screen next to the departure gate at the airport (biding my time until boarding commenced), I was bombarded with a plethora of pictures of unusually/unnaturally fat people and not so subtle messages about the perils of weight gain and the benefits of losing that dead weight to prevent you from becoming a dead weight. 🙂
The first picture showed an unhappy young man with a pot belly, his back ached and he felt embarrassed by his physique, or lack of it. The next image literally cut his pot belly off and showed him to be thin and fit and so very happy.
Next there was a short video of a neglected fat wife, her husband ignored her blatantly and she felt inadequate to keep him interested in her looks. She was heartbroken, dejected and sad until she found this miraculous cure. She lost weight and looked fantastic; her husband noticed her too and couldn’t keep his eyes and hands off her. What disappointed me was the alacrity with which she forgave him and the brilliance of her smile at her selfish husband’s acknowledgment of her presence only after she’d lost weight. What happened to- to love and to hold, in sickness and in health, In good times and bad?
You must be wondering why I am droning on about this weight loss cure when my topic is intelligent advertising and marketing. Here goes, by the end of the 15 odd minutes staring at the fat people’s unhappy lives on display and their transformation physically as well as emotionally after they lost the excess weight, I was making furious plans to go for regular walks to keep fit. It was at this point that something huge blocked my view of the fat and thin saga on the screen; it was a young lady with a menu card from her fast food outlet nearby.
Had she been selling fresh juices,(preferably cold pressed) or healthy salads, I would have surely ordered something but she was selling burgers and pizzas. Either both the owner of the food joint and the advertiser of the weight loss cure were oblivious of each other’s products or they didn’t care about the psychological implications of repeated messages affecting the brain cells. To top it all, the young lady was pleasantly plump like me. Either way, they both lost out as I refrained from ordering anything to eat or drink.
Had the weight loss brand and the food stall collaborated and stocked up on some healthy food products it would have resulted in good sales and more number of happy customers than the few who did order their food. In my case, the 15 minutes of brainwashing was a waste and so was the sales pitch by this lovely salesperson 🙂
 By Sulekha Rawat
Atleast it worked on you and you didn’t order junk food. I would have gone ahead and ordered! 😀
Nabanita, I would have ordered healthy food 🙂 but it wasn’t on offer. Thanks.
What a fascinating post on the dynamics of advertising psychology, Sulekha. I am not for fat shaming, to be honest but I think there should be more emphasis on healthy eating and detoxing. It’s necessary. I tend to binge eat on junk but have become very wary now, close as I am to 40. I also feel it’s important to build these ideas from childhood and attempt to do the same with the kid. A bit strict on junk food being at home these days.
Shailaja, I agree with you on this. There is no magic pill or potion to lose weight, they do have side effects. Junk food is okay once in a while but as I am past 50, it is not very healthy for me 🙂 Thanks for the visit 🙂
At-least it was a win for you (unless you were hungry, of course) – you showed tremendous self control when offered junk food.
Shanaya, thankfully I wasn’t too hungry 🙂 Thanks.