this makes me want to do some research....

[ljgeoff]

When looking at the diet-yogurt ad with the tagline: Forget about it. Men's preference will never change. Fit Light Yogurt. do most men think that the ad model really looks less sexy than the original? Do most women?

Comments

[lovecraftienne.livejournal.com]

No, I tend to agree with my friend epi_lj's take on it, that they tend to be at least as, if not more, attractive.

But I have to remind myself I'm circulating in a fairly rarefied atmosphere of liberality, namely, my LJ circle of friends, and since I spend little time interacting with people outside that circle, I admit I may not have a finger on the heartbeat of the nation. I look at the wild popularity of movies like Big Momma and its sequel, wherein the single joke, repeated ad nauseam, is "fat people are ridiculous when they try and behave like normal people"...and I think that probably, a lot of people *do* buy into the mainstream ideals. Of course they do - they wouldn't be mainstream ideals, if they didn't.

I'm constantly annoyed - though I'm not exactly vast myself - by the endless series of commercials showing the subtle fat=stupid prejudice. A Blockbuster ad, about a couple being able to exchange their movies at the store, even if they've got them online. The reason? Their fat, mouthy neighbour who can't stop giving away the endings. The couple? Nice, thin, blue-eyed blonde wife, nice, thin, blue-eyed brunet husband. It happens again and again and again, in markets which wouldn't ever have anything to do with the customer's size - I mean, really, does Blockbuster think fat people are less likely to watch movies? Do they really want to subtly alienate a good chunk of their audience?

But really? Most people simply don't analyse media presentations at all. They just receive, rather than perceive, the buckets of crap shoveled at them, without ever casting a thought over how and why it's being presented as it is, or the implications being made by the choices of the directors...and they don't want to. They *want* to just receive.

[elissaann.livejournal.com]

I am not a man, nor do I play one on the internet.

The ad is far more aesthetically pleasing to me than the original.

[firecat]

I don't know most men and most women, but I think the plumper model looks a lot better.

[anansi133.livejournal.com]

That tagline roughly translates as, "History is over. The good guys won. Go back to sleep, and buy this product."