Banning the promotion of diets Britain is considered one of the fattest nations on the planet but over the last few years, losing weight and being thin has become a fashionable thing to do. Being known as fat is looked down upon and unlike in roman times, where an overweight person was seen to wealthy, a Hollywood actor must now be as skinny as possible. Many people are inspired by the figures of these celebrities, and many diet companies use them as examples to encourage people, but does this help our weight problem or lead to body image issues? If a person chooses to diet, they are told to consult their doctor first as it is a medical hooch.
The television adverts and magazine adverts glorify dieting as if it works the same for everyone, and everyone will get the same effects. Many people see the image of the individual who appears to have lost a large amount of weight in a time that would only exist if they eat nothing, and believe they can look the same. These days images are very easily photo shopped. They are often depicted wearing a pair of trousers with a waist length twice the size of them, there is no evidence to prove that those trousers belonged to the model in the first place. The diet industry in the
United Kingdom is worth two billion pounds, so their methods must be effective to keep in business. The positive parts of dieting are only advertised and because people are inspired by one magazine article, often going to see their doctor and receiving the right diet information to suit their current health is not an option. People also forget that a solution that will eventually work for everyone is eating a healthy balanced diet and doing lots of exercise. This solution is free and available to everyone. However the media spreads the idea that their diet plans are a much otter way to lose weight.
Promoting diets also promotes the idea that the only way to be attractive is to be thin. If two people are displayed on advert and one is fat and the other person is thinner, many of us automatically perceive the skinner person to be more attractive. The media has helped us to compare the waist, rather than the face of the individual. This is not always fair as some people chose not to be skinny. It puts pressure on people, especially young people to have a perfect image which is displayed in magazines that is only received by dieting and that if they do not have a figure exactly like the models, they are fat.
There is a well studied connection between media advertising about dieting and eating disorders. 1. The effects of a diet will effect every body differently, it is wrong to brainwash readers into believing they will look like the model. People become disappointed or angry when they aren’t losing weight as fast as the program said they should be, and then go to more extreme methods, such as eating nothing at all. Advertising diets to individuals gives the word tat an exact meaning. It gives it sense that anyone of a certain weight or looks a certain size is automatically noninsured fat.
It promotes the idea that you are only healthy if you are thin, which of course is not true. The descriptions ‘overweight’ and ‘obese’ are often merged into the same thing. The definition of fat is what each and everyone person believes it to be. Everyone has a different opinion on what is fat and what is not. Many people believe that their size is perfectly healthy, even if others see them as obese or overweight. Their opinion of themselves should be all that matters, not what other people think or what the media is attempting to make them believe.
Depriving your body of essential vitamins and minerals is not a wise action to take to lose weight. Although your weight will decrease, this can cause you far more serious health problems that being overweight. However it is a positive thing to encourage people to lose weight. We have a large obesity rate in the in the United Kingdom and the diet industry does help inspire people that losing weight and keeping fit can make you a happier person. The NASH spend millions of pounds every year funding gastric band operations and other weight-loss treatments. Many cases of depression are also caused by people being unhappy about their size.
It is good to have advertisements that inspire people and give individuals a target to work and to focus on for the future. Giving people something to aspire to is not a negative thing. As consumers we have free choice about what we do and do not want to eat. However there is no harm in the diet industry giving us guidance about what is good for our health or what will not help us lose weight. Not everyone who sees a diet advert is obliged to follow it, it is not compulsory that any overweight person goes on a diet, they are Just suggestions for those who are interested.
The people who do want help and advice or people to aspire to should have the opportunity widely available to them. Banning diet promotions would not discourage people from dieting or wipe out the information we all ready know. The media have been publishing adverts and advice for so long that it is programmed into our heads about how to lose weight, should we chose to. The websites and newspaper articles may no longer appear, but the knowledge will always be there. People will always enjoy losing weight and want to know to do it. Numerous health scares have told us that being overweight can causes errors and life threatening diseases.
For this reason, we feel happier about ourselves and less health conscious at weight which is deemed healthy. It would be very difficult to completely ban diet promotion due to the amount of money the industry makes annually. Almost every woman’s magazine features an article on weight loss. It is the reason many woman buy them, because they are interested in other women’s stories, they are planning to lose weight themselves, or are Just curious. The weight-loss sections are profitable sections of the magazine and would very difficult to shut hem down.
The publishers to the magazine may go out to business if women chose to stop buying them, if they are deemed uninteresting without the weightless sections. This will dramatically damage the publishing industries. In conclusion, although weightless promotions have had and do have many damaging affects across society today. It is only because people to chose to read and follow the advice of these programs. There is no use in banning the promotions as the information will always be in people’s minds, therefore it will not remove the problems that it causes in society.
