You might have seen the most recent Special K television and billboard advertising campaign over the last couple of weeks.

If not, it uses the slogan “What will you gain when you lose [weight]?” to promote Special K as a way to assist weight loss. This is a US advert but the same campaign is being used in the UK too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBe8lkGdrlw

I know we're not just sponges that soak up every message the media give us, but campaign promotes the idea that weight has a direct correlation with self-worth - something many people with EDs believe. Throwing this idea at people from TV, magazines and billboards can be seen as a pretty decent way of reinforcing these beliefs. I feel massively uncomfortable every time I see one of these ads (which is frequently, as they're on all the bloody time).

A fair few people are complaining about this to the Advertising Standards Agency in the UK, including me. The ASA have a policy of looking into cases regardless of the number of complaints they get (as in, if 1 person complains they'll look into it) but power comes in numbers, so if you're up for speaking up and telling Kelloggs to stop preying on women's self-esteem to sell products please go for it!

UK people can do so here http://www.asa.org.uk/Complaints/How-to ... Step1.aspx

What I find sort of disgusting is the messages displayed on the scale. When that's precisely NOT what a scale tells us.
There are so many awesome messages out there, from people trying to raise awareness or to overcome their own disordered relationship with their scales and then this ad comes along and touts the exact same bullshit people are trying to counteract.

Also, why does it seem like the simplistic weight loss = awesome equation is so unanimously accepted?

I always liked the chocolate and red berry Special K, but breakfast cereal is not going to have any profound effects on the way I look... It's having superficial effects on my breakfast.

Thanks so much for the info! I hate that damn special k campaign as I feel it doesn't promote health, but rather unbalanced and unhealthy eating habits.

*

Meh.

These things have the power we give them.

Over us as individuals, yes.

But calling them out instead of leaving the consensus unquestioned gives them a little less power.

Here's the thing though.

As individuals we DO have power.

don't buy it.

end of story.

if their product doesn't sell, the advertising techniques have to change.

they wouldn't advertise in that way if it wasn't effective.

don't let it be effective.


//i think these conversations make bore me to a degree//
they insinuate that we're idiots who have no choice but to fall victim to this form of advertising... when really? we all have a choice.

if we quit making a choice that indicates agreeance with the campaign then the campaign would be forced to change

and i am not sure i really count online sort-of petitions as doing something, but i'm undecided so i took out my last paragraph -- i say this as the campaign originates in the States so it seems weird to target the UK

at any rate... i am out - to leave you in peace (not sarcasm) as maybe there is something cathartic i am missing.

I had a feeling this thread could turn this way. I've made an official complaint to the ASA because, as I said in the original post:



This same campaign is being used in the UK, by the way.

I for one don't want to see this thread turn into a massive argument which sours the tone of the board. I'll leave this up for a short period of time for people to see, and then it will be deleted.

Being told crap and fed lies annoys me, even if I don't fall prey to something.
I mean, telling people not to insult me doesn't necessarily imply that the insults touch me on a deep and lasting level and that I'm incapable of dismissing them for what they are - I don't like being targeted in this way, even if I don't get hit.
I agree that not buying something is one way of changing someting. But so is talking about it. To me, actively talking about something means the opposite of being a passive victim. It means claiming some of my agency. So I'm grateful to people for pointing that shit out.

Of course, this doesn't mean that anybody has an obligation to talk about commercials or even care about them.

Do you think that's necessary?
If someone disagrees that's not souring the tone. And I'd rather not have discussion stifled in favour of tone, anyway.
If someone doesn't think this is worth discussing, then the thread isn't going to jump at them and attack them from behind.

I'm not going to delete this after some consideration. Censorship isn't cool. I made a rash decision in saying that and I take it back.

I started this thread after a discussion on RB in which a number of us decided to contact the ASA to make them aware of the damaging belief system this campaign promotes. I'm trying to do something positive for something I believe in. I guess maybe that wasn't picked up on.

There's no point getting our knickers in a twist here - in fact, mine have been firmly untangled I just want to make a difference because I have a passion for promoting positivity when it comes to beliefs about the self, and fuck knows I haven't had passion for anything much in a long, long time.

I haven't watched the clip and I probably won't - not because it might trigger me, but because I don't actually watch TV just because of the commercials.

However, I do want to say that I am not a supporter of the "free market" regulating itself. If a few people decide not to buy a product because of its messaging, the impact of loss of that customer base may well be more than compensated for by the increase in a new, impressionable customer base. For that reason, organised campaigns and petitions ARE important because they let companies know that people are boycotting their products (which they don't know if you just don't buy), they know why people are boycotting their products, and they know the risks of not addressing the situation in the world of instant communication and social media used to effect social change.

Every person makes a difference, and right now we only change the world one person at a time. Be the person. Or as someone far more intelligent and eloquent than I said, "Be the change you want to see in the world."

The entire point of Special K is to eat it for 'weight loss'. I guess, because of that, it has never bothered me that that is how they advertise their product. I mean.. try the cereal.. it has no taste lol. Why else would you eat it?

I would rather campaign against diet pills than a silly cereal. but maybe that's just me

i quite like the taste of special k - well the one with berries etc in it, but i could easily get through a box of it in 2 days which i doubt it how they think people will lose weight haha

that particular ad hasnt made it here yet but there are other ones here about jeans, and fitting into your perfect size whatever (insert similar messages as they use on the scales here) - ie perfect size awsome rather than perfect size number

at first i thought it was an ok add but having seen the scales ones (and there are more of them on youtube) i can say i wont be buying special k anymore! having said that i cant actually remember the last time i bought special k, though i know when i was sick i did buy it, probably because of its marketing for weightloss!

I really find that advert disturbing!