I go all Andy Rooney for a moment.

[fredericks]

Lipozeme. The main reason I'm wasting time on it is because I've been subjected to at least five ads for the product during the last hour I've been watching SpikeTV (MXC's been playing, for those interested). According to the ads it's a "100% safe, 100% effective way" to lose body fat. The ad then goes on to list five or six ways in which a person can gain unwanted body fat, kindly leaving off "sitting your ass in front of the TV, taking in cheesy dubbed weird-ass Japanese gameshows". Potential customers are encouraged to try the product "risk-free" for 30 days. The trial entreaty is flashed on the screen in bold yellow text, massive, impossible to miss. In comparison, that is, to the fine print on the bottom of the screen that mentions an "average" of 3.8 lbs has been loss during "clinical trials" (if I could place an audio clip of a snort there I would) over 8 weeks. What were the results of the placebo trial? How many people were in these "clinical trials". What the HELL is the "Obesity Research Institute"? Obesity Research Institute. Hmph. Makes the whole thing sound quite official, doesn't it?

The only plus - okay, "plus" is taking things too far...perhaps "neutral attribute" is more appropriate - for Lipozeme is that the ingredients indeed seem to be all found in nature (as in, not chemically altered in lab). Then again, the tapeworm eggs that used to be advertised in magazine a couple of decades ago were completely natural as well.

Fuck. I have this whole rant in my head and trying to make it logical is helping me realize how my thought process is utterly insane. I just hate to see people getting duped by scheming assholes. Does anyone with sense in their heads think popping two pills two to three times a day while not altering eating and activity habits is going to help them lose any sort of real weight? But when you're truly desperate you'll buy that fish oil, dammit.

Moving on.
*

Bro and I were talking the other day about the subconscious effects of product placement in media. He was sharing with me the more generic influence watching Naruto has had on his dietary cravings - he wants ramen all the time ("they just make it look so good!"). I shared with him the fact that frequent watching of Queer as Folk back when started my craving for Sam Adams beer (it was the first bit of alcohol I plunked down for on my 21st b-day - because it was my birthday I got a 10% discount, so go me). There were never any blatant "Sam Adams is the bomb-diggity, y'all!" bits of dialogue on the show and, as far as I can recall, there weren't any (many?) shots of the label of the beer, but it was the only beer the characters were ever shown drinking. And I was in New England at the time, so Sam Adams was every-damn-where, but still. We both hate overt product placement, but the more subtle things work disconcertingly well. Anyone else notice this? or are we just very gullible?

Comments

[bbart.livejournal.com]

About a week ago we were watching TV and a Lipozeme commercial came on. DH says, "Hey, we should try that!"

Are you shitting me? What part of "there's a sucker born every minute" and "if it sounds too good to be true..." don't you understand?

I'm still utterly, totally baffled that he reacted like that.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Bwah! Was he serious? Come on, now!

It always slays me how the commercial shows this pauchy dude with huge subcutaneous fat deposits on his stomach, thighs, and legs, and then says 3lbs of weight loss over 8 weeks is average. You seriously think 3 lbs of weight is going to help with the beer belly? Really? WTF.

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

Well, tape worms actually are an excellent way to lose weight while eating whatever you damn well please. I challenge someone to come up with a better method, really.

I don't know if it's because I'm in marketing, but I notice product placement ALL THE TIME. Sometimes it's like disgustingly blatant, like everything the CW is using lately. "Let me use my amazing Venus razor to go shave quickly and I'll be with you." I think it's a little more subtle in movies. Most of the time I'm like, "Gee, I wonder how much (insert brand) paid to have their stuff put in there?" Also, notice how EVERYONE on TV or in movies pretty much only uses Apple computers? Probably not a coincidence. I think product placement, if done subtly, is extremely effective, and I know it works on me, probably better than commercials do. Especially now with TiVo and everyone fastforwarding past commercials anyway.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

Well, tape worms actually are an excellent way to lose weight while eating whatever you damn well please. I challenge someone to come up with a better method, really.
...then your hair falls out, you lose your muscle mass, your organs fail, and you keel over while riding the subway, to be trampled by your fellow riders. :) Other than that, it's great.

The CW just screams blatant, anyway. Ha. And they use Dells on Stargate Atlantis. :) It's telling that I noticed that. The TiVo fastforwarding is a good point. We're probably going to see more in-show adverts than less.

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

Hey, I said it's a good way to lose weight, not survive the process. Meanwhile, death makes it totally easy to keep the weight off.

Haha, I noticed the Dells on SGA, too, but everyone else has Macs.

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

What these diet pills and latest fad diets and shit fail to address is that there is obviously something in EVERYTHING we're eating and doing (because obesity is affecting more and more people nowadays), so taking care of it on an individual level is disingenuous, at best. And the number of individuals who ignore a serious personal health issue because the pounds are finally melting off (or because they're fixated on that instead of, say, the thyroid) makes me shudder. We need to stop looking at JUST weight, and work on making a healthier society.

And weight, itself, isn't necessarily unhealthy. Those who live the longest tend to have a BMI of 29.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

We need to stop looking at JUST weight, and work on making a healthier society.
Yes, but that just doesn't have a nice ring to it. We're such a quick-fix society that talking about things like behavior modification, cog-behavioral therapy, and using "lifestyle change" instead of (shudder) "diet" doesn't fly. And there's definitely a disconnect going on, because popular media continues to emphasize thin while we're just getting larger and larger. More insurances need to cover long-term help instead of catering to the "lose weight now" mentality, imo.

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. These are changes that need to be integrated into people's everyday lives, not some temporary measures that we do just until it's better. The bodies we have are something we have for our whole lives, and so anything that affects them is going to affect our whole life.

So in a society where it's expensive and time-consuming and dangerous to do anything but hop in the car to go to the grocery store to pick up some processed food made with high fructose corn syrup and throw it into the microwave to warm up, it's no wonder waistlines are expanding.

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

There was actually a very recent Australian study done and showed that people with BMI over 30 had a decreased life expectancy of 3.5-4.5 years less, and even those with BMIs 25-30 have 6 month shorter life spans than average.

I do agree though there is WAY too much of a focus in this country on being thin instead of being healthy. Too many fad diets and not enough lifestyle changes.

BMI isn't even a great measure because they don't account for muscle mass.

Also, I totally think you'll appreciate this site, and what they have to say: http://www.obesityscam.com/myth4.1.htm
I think it totally makes your point.

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Shapely Prose is a pretty good source of stats on the myth that fat = unhealthy. This post sums it all up nicely.

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

This is a great site. Thanks! :)

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Sure thing. ^ v ^

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

PS - Mind if I add you? I'm a regular D*C goer, too!

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah? Cool. A friend got me hooked a few years ago when she paid my way, and it's like a frickin' drug.

And I have no problem with people adding me. I'm pretty LJ-friendly.

[wolfsavard.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the first time I went in 2006, my friend and I walked in the first day and our jaws hit the floor. We were like, "Yeah... we'll be doing this again next year." I feel like each year we go we learn something new like actually stay at the hotel, or don't drive down from CT, so maybe this year the third time will be the charm. :)

[alicetheowl.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, we stayed off-site the first two times we went, and finally went with the Marriott last year. What a difference it made! It was SO nice, not having to walk 10 blocks when I was falling asleep on my feet. And being able to just dart up to the room to drop stuff off, grab a bite to eat, or close my eyes for 15 minutes was bliss.

This year, the friend who booked the room is coming down to visit the week before, then we're all driving together. (I live in WNC, so it's a four-hour drive with all the bathroom stops and even if there's traffic.) Last year, the biggest hitch was that they wouldn't let us check in, even after she called to authorize the charge. By the time we did check in, they were out of mini fridges.

But yes, the con itself is made of awesome and win. I could not BELIEVE the sheer numbers of people I saw the first year, until I'd been to enough panels to realize what all these people knew - it was worth it.

[colonel-taisa.livejournal.com]

With the product placement, the subtle stuff does work. Last week I watched the first season of Burn Notice in about 4 days, and in every single episode they're eating yogurt (blueberry I think) or they mention it, so I started getting massive cravings for yogurt.

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

And that's just for good ole blueberry yogurt. Did you notice what *brand* of yogurt they were using?

[colonel-taisa.livejournal.com]

I don't think they mentioned the brand, or it wasn't overtly obvious, so I have no idea. I think the yogurt thing was just an in joke with the writers or something, rather than product placement.

[twoworldsin1.livejournal.com]

Yeah but keep in mind that stuff like Head-On is still somehow allowed on the market--which is basically just a stick of canuba wax but which they "vaguely infer" has some kind of medicinal properties (except they can't flat-out SAY it on the commercials, since that would be a violation of FDA rules or something). But hey, at least the commercials are catchy!

(Sorry it's taking me so long to comment, I'm trying my best to catch up so I haven't forsaken my LJ friends :(