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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!tektronix!barbaraz
From: barbaraz@tektronix.UUCP (Barbara Zanzig)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: Re: Indoctrination
Message-ID: <4023@tektronix.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 1-Nov-84 03:44:05 EST
Article-I.D.: tektroni.4023
Posted: Thu Nov  1 03:44:05 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 3-Nov-84 05:49:38 EST
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 38


>I've seen this quote several times now, and still don't understand the  
The problem is, the **** diet industry is so pervasive.  Yes, you can choose
to diet, but can you choose NOT to diet?  Sure, weight is a health problem,
but there are more important ones like alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, ...
Do they advertise against those?  No way.  My doctor tells me quitting
cigarettes is more important than my weight.  Do I get societal support?
No way.

No, the diet advertisers aren't necessarily in league with the ad industry.
They use it the same way every other advertiser does to publicize their
product.  But, by using ONLY "attractive individuals" (your words) they
omit a lot of us who either don't conform to their ideal or who choose
to live other lives.  I mean, only after 10 years of feminism are they
showing women in power roles!  They are out of touch with what the real
world is up to.  And, I've got news for you, there are women who are
attractive who don't weigh <105 pounds.

Rosie, Mr. Whipple etc. have bucked the norms.  They are cute because
they're interesting, not attractive.  Unfortunately, they are the
exception.

No, the advertisements do NOT say "you should be young, thin and attractive."
They just imply it.  They don't say, "rest your eyes on this person", they
imply "this person is the ONLY way to be."  And it isn't just women's
advertising products - look at the Marlboro man or the women and men in
pictures in mainstream magazines.  Do you EVER see an overweight person?  A
black person? An Hispanic person?, etc.??  I get real sick of the ads in
Working Woman - here is a magazine that is supposed to appeal to upwardly
mobile women.  What are the ads?  Makeup, underwear, alcohol, clothes,
cigarettes, perfume, and high-tech.  This is liberated?  I've got news for
you - I'm interested in a lot more than that.

Congratulations to you for having lost weight, but it doesn't really change
how life is.

Barbara Zanzig
{allegra, decvax, ucbvax, ihnp4, hplabs, zehntel, ...}!tektronix!barbaraz