Special K anyone?

[Stardancser]

:hugon:bowl:hugoff

:trigger Mentions a pro-diet advertisement

Alright I have to admit I feel a little helpless bringing this up because you see it everywhere but nonetheless I feel the need to express my frustration.

As part of the promotion for their cereal, Special K and Special K red berries, Kellog's has built a diet around the cereals. Again, I know you see it everywhere, but they take it a bit farther. On the back of the boxes they have a picture of a woman crouching on a scale smiling, I suppose we can assume she has lost weight:mad

Happiness does not equal thinness! Will society and our culture ever realize this? I feel hopeless thinking about the answer. Furthermore the back of the box lists things to "manage your weight" one of which is "Avoid temptation. Limit or ban high-fat snack foods." :reallymad

As consumers is there anything we can do that makes a difference? Do companies really listen to letters of complaint when our whole culture is diet crazy and that's what sells the product?

Thoughts?

Much gentle :love
:starsstar

[Sweet Sangria]

Special K's recent "diet" ads annoy me beyond belief. They advertise unhealthy weight loss right on the box.


:trigger Specifics about the weight-loss advice
:trigger
:trigger

:madFirst of all they, say you can lose x pounds in just two weeks by eating the cereal. The amount of "x" is way too much for healthy weight loss.

:madSecondly, in order to lose this weight, they recommend that your breakfast and lunch consist of only Special K for two weeks. Okay, how is that healthy? You're missing out on protein, fat, fiber, many other nutrients, and definitely depriving your body of calories. If I were going to "live" off of a cereal, it would be one of those "power" cereals that have everything from protein to fiber to omega fatty acids!!!

:madSpecial K has vitamins, but not much else. It's not even a "health" cereal-- it's simply low in calories if you eat the recommended portion size. Which might satifiy a three-year old. :whateva

As consumers is there anything we can do that makes a difference? Do companies really listen to letters of complaint when our whole culture is diet crazy and that's what sells the product?
Unfortunately, companies do what sells.:ugh As a marketing professional myself, I am sure they tested this campaign with focus groups, and the message was appealing to their target audience. Even if the Marketing Vice President or the Advertising Exec had a sense of morals and what's healthy, they are paid to sell the product, not the follow their true beliefs. In other words, their job is at stake so they don't have much of a choice-- even if thousands of angry consumers protested the advertisements.

As consumers, the only thing we can do is simply NOT buy the product. Companies listen to sales numbers.


Think about it.

[Millificent]

"As consumers is there anything we can do that makes a difference? Do companies really listen to letters of complaint when our whole culture is diet crazy and that's what sells the product?"

Actually, there is something you can do. The Federal Trade Commission (http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/fitness/index.html) has been cracking down on false advertising in the diet industry. They have levied some huge fines against diet-pill companies who make unsupported claims. Last year they held an all-day conference (which I attended) on the topic, which basically decided that ALL claims of "guaranteed permanent weight loss" are false.

You CAN and should report any misleading claims to the FTC for investigation.

:dragon Millie

[Sweet Sangria]

Millie,
Unfortunately, it's not a false claim. If you did eat only Special K for breakfast and lunch for two weeks, you probably would lose the weight they advertise. It's not a false claim, it's just an unhealthy one! Kind of like how beer commercials show you how much "fun" their beer is. The beer very well may be fun, but it's not healthy. :ugh

True, most "dieters" would probably gain that weight back, but Special K never says anything about keeping it off. . .

[Anakalia]

"Happiness does not equal thinness! Will society and our culture ever realize this?"

A lot of the time I feel as though only people who have struggled with some form of an ED realize this. I don't know ... I hope I am mistaken, but it might be a live and learn scenerio.

[Feak]

It certainly f*cking good advertising :mad I'm trying to get thoughts of restricting out of my head and then there's an advert for it! :reallymad They have the best ways to make the advert profitable and work well... bad news for recovering :fishy Despite all my best intentions and mindsets I do find myself when seeing them in a supermarket thinking "hmm that sounds like a good idea" :ohboy Don't act on it though.

Maybe we could complain? Write to the ad. standards people or even Kellogs and say that what they are advertising is very unhealthy?

[andytails]

yup ive seen the ads too, not only for special k but most of kellogs cereals.... all prophesising about x amount of weight loss if you eat kellogs....

we all know that what they are saying is unhealthy and that the ppl will gain the weight back most certainly.... but think... we are a minority group of ppl, and for all those ppl out there without ed's and those who want a 'quick fix' will probably buy the cereals.... for kellogs it is probably a very successful advertisment especially with the increasing amount of ppl wanting to lose weight (specially during the summer), including those ppl with eds who are still in denial.

..i would like to say now that i do not agree with the way they are advertising or their methods

i think that there is very little we can do to stop them..... we can write them letters of complaint etc but whats it gonna do.... they arent saying anything to the consumer that are lies...all it would do is get a letter of apology (possibly) and maybe even a complimentry box of cereal (which would defeat the object).... the only thing u can do is not buy the cereal... but that probably wont make much difference.... it would be like anyone in the uk with an ed refusing to buy macdonalds, it wouldnt make any difference to their profit margins at all....
i guess what im saying is that u have to ignore it, theyll think of a new campaign soon enough....

[Millificent]

I just looked at the info on the "Special K Diet" on their website and it does give a lot more information than is provided in the commercials.
:bullet They DO tell people to also have healthy snacks between meals and NOT to restrict calories below a certain (normally healthy) amount.
:bullet The amount of weight are advertising you can lose specifically says "up to x pounds." Most people lose less and they tell you that you should not try to lose more.
:bullet They also specify that this is only meant as a two week plan, and should not be used for longer as a method of weight loss.

One of their main goals is to get people to eat breakfast instead of skipping the meal entirely, since that often leads to overeating later in the day.

:dragon Millie

[rockyandbullwinkle]

I looked at my box of Special K this morning (I happen to really like it and didn't even notice the lady and scale thing until it was mentioned here) and read all their tips on the back.
Most of them are very healthy tips for the average person, it is just the minority of us with ED's that it might bother. I can't say that it really bothered me all that much, but I am in a good place in my long term recovery.
So if you like Special K but the box bothers you just throw away the box. The cereal will be just fine in the bag.
If you don't agree with the advertizing strategy then don't buy the product. But with over half of the adult population in the US overweight I would plan to see more of that type of advertizing on food products. Especially now that the trail lawyers have gotten involved. There will be warning labels on all unhealthy food in the very near future to prevent lawsuits.

[PoetBallerina]

I don't know if I should reply to this post or not.

But since the little ed voice in my head went "hmm....that would be a great idea...what if I tried that?....", I think I shoud say something.

I find this post triggering and tippy for me along with other stuff in life. I am in recovery and have been behavior free for over a year and a half. But you know what? There are so many diet triggers out there for me. And it is my choice in how I deal with them.

I have learned that we need to take everything in moderation. Eating healthy is part of a lifestyle of taking care of yourself. And when I say healthy, I mean full, balanced meals. Also you have to have a healthy mind as well.

[geekygirl]

Last year for an anthro pop culture class we had to analyze a cultural artifact and give a fiftten minute presentation about it. My group decided to do Special K. We used the commercials that were around before last year, the only one that I can remember off the top of my head is the one with the guy at the beach in the speedo, asking his wife to put some sunscreen on his back. Anyways, we came to the conclusion that Special K is just telling us what we want to here. It's 'cool' to feel good about yourself, so they try to pass off their cereal as helping you do that. It's 'cool' to lose weight, so if you eat their cereal you will. It's actually kinda scary how much thought and effort goes into making those commercials. They know exactly what we're concerned about, and aren't worried about using it to make us buy theor cereal. I'm not sure if any of that made sense. I hope it did.

~Heather~:canada

[honey_bear]

I thought about posting on this some months back but decided against it. My parents went on this diet at the beginning of the year. My mother kept telling me how she had lost weight, etc. Finally I told her that I was extremely upset that she and my father would be on such an unhealthy diet. She didn't really understand. When I explained how restrictive it was and how far under the daily requirements of all nutrients this fell, she began to understand a little, but it didn't stop her. Eventually she and my father stopped it, but it was quite frustrating for me because I was having a hard time staying committed to my recovery and hearing constant chattering about weight loss with Special K didn't help.:ugh

:love
Laura

[CarrieK]

Can I just say I am so glad Star started this post because it drives me crazy too!!!!! Ugh!

[Stardancser]

Thank you :fishyies for your thoughts and suggestions. While it's true that we may not have much influence over the advertising campaigns of Kelloggs and other companies, I am grateful for a place that I can come and be real about my frustrations and speak up about things I find annoying.

Take care:love
:starsstar

[meow]

I came across this thread when it was first started and my immediate reaction was 'I need to go get a box of Special K':ummm.
i didn't buy them but i did have a look, we must not have the same box as you guys. Just as well...
I had decided not to reply to the thread......changed my mind.

I fully understand where your coming from :hugonStar:hugoff (there's a similar ad. on irish tv here thats driving me :reallymad at the moment)........
I think the more complaints are made about this type of advertising the more chance we have of controlling/stopping it.

Can I suggest to everyone putting a :trigger on something like this in future maybe??? Just to be safe....???

I know :bowl has nothing to do with my triggered, thats my choice. Its just that sometimes when I'm in this mood having *diet aids pointed out* is way too much temptation.
But again its my choice....

:ummmI know I'm going to get shot down for posting this but I felt it had to be said.......sorry........

*dieted aids pointed out* is a bit strong I know, but I couldn't think of another way to put it, I don't mean it to be as blunt as it sounds

:kitkat

[meow]

:hugonStar:hugoff

I'm so sorry :ugh I've just spotted the :trigger you posted at the very start of the thread.

Ignore my previous post, sorry.

:boomMeow:boom