Body Respect- Special K Commercial

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  • 40andFindingFitness
    40andFindingFitness Posts: 497 Member
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    Great idea Special K. Sometimes we are way too harsh on ourselves and we need to celebrate who we are no matter the size.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    I get having positive thoughts about yourself but I don't get accepting that this is just the way you are if you are overweight. It's becoming the norm to accept obesity in our society. That's not OK. It's unhealthy and the next generation is the first expected to not live longer than their parents. Accepting fat is not alright.
  • TarynAngeline
    TarynAngeline Posts: 95 Member
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    Cute idea but still don't trust a company that manufactures candy and calls it cereal. I love me a bowl of Froot Loops just as much as anyone but let's call it what it is. With their weird little toucan mascot guy, it is totally aimed toward kids. A lot of kids grow up eating this crap everyday for breakfast.
  • echofm1
    echofm1 Posts: 471 Member
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    I think that it's a great message, even if it is a PR stunt. I don't think this ad is necessarily about weight, because pretty much every woman does this to themselves. My sister is a size small and super athletic and I still hear her put herself down. One of my friends is on the small side of extra small and she'll say stuff like this too.

    It's one thing to say a piece of clothing doesn't look good on you. It's another to say a piece of clothing doesn't look good because something's wrong with you. You can strive for a better body and still love the one you have.
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,022 Member
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    Color me cynical, but I guess I just see this as Special K trying to get in on the recent trend of "You're not as ugly as you think" marketing. They make lots of money off women who think they're fat.

    While I agree that some women go overboard with the self-denigration, frequently as bait for compliments from others, I also think there is virtue in honesty, even when it's brutal. Some people are more motivated by that than by platitudes about how everyone is beautiful, regardless of size.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    I get having positive thoughts about yourself but I don't get accepting that this is just the way you are if you are overweight. It's becoming the norm to accept obesity in our society. That's not OK. It's unhealthy and the next generation is the first expected to not live longer than their parents. Accepting fat is not alright.

    Agreed
  • SkinnyFatAlbert
    SkinnyFatAlbert Posts: 482 Member
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    Color me cynical, but I guess I just see this as Special K trying to get in on the recent trend of "You're not as ugly as you think" marketing. They make lots of money off women who think they're fat.

    While I agree that some women go overboard with the self-denigration, frequently as bait for compliments from others, I also think there is virtue in honesty, even when it's brutal. Some people are more motivated by that than by platitudes about how everyone is beautiful, regardless of size.

    This type of marketing is no better or worse than the "you're almost a professional athlete and our clothes will help you get one step closer" marketing by Nike, Under Armour, etc. In the end it's all business and they're all trying to sell you something.
  • jonmscharff
    jonmscharff Posts: 72 Member
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    I get having positive thoughts about yourself but I don't get accepting that this is just the way you are if you are overweight. It's becoming the norm to accept obesity in our society. That's not OK. It's unhealthy and the next generation is the first expected to not live longer than their parents. Accepting fat is not alright.

    Here here
  • AlabasterVerve
    AlabasterVerve Posts: 3,171 Member
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    I'm sure it'll sell a lot of product.
  • RinnyLush
    RinnyLush Posts: 389 Member
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    I appreciate the message but not the source. Ultimately, it's a marketing ploy. I would like to think that their heart is in the right place, but I see it as another way for them to conveniently push their product so close to New Year's resolution season. Maybe I'm a little cynical, but I see the narrative playing out like this: "Why are you so mean to yourself? --> You're special. --> Treat yourself better. --> Special K understands you! ---> Eat Special K."

    Here is an interesting interpretation of the ad, that I tend to agree with:
    http://jezebel.com/buzz-off-special-k-we-dont-need-your-lecture-on-fat-1481047640

    However, like I said, I appreciate the message. We should treat ourselves with the same love and respect that we treat others. We can do that without preachy cereal corporations telling us to, though.

    Flowers for all!!! :flowerforyou:
  • IronSmasher
    IronSmasher Posts: 3,908 Member
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    Perhaps not selling them sugar as a health food so that their attempts to improve their figures fail would be a more effective strategy.
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    I don't think the people putting things like that up on twitter really think their body is bad. It sounds like they're just fishing for compliments from other folks on twitter.

    I like special K and eat it often, but not because it makes me feel better about my body.
  • RinnyLush
    RinnyLush Posts: 389 Member
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    I like special K and eat it often, but not because it makes me feel better about my body.

    Ditto! I thought I was the only person on the planet that seriously ENJOYS their original, plain old Special K cereal. I love it with unsweetened vanilla almond milk!
  • TarynAngeline
    TarynAngeline Posts: 95 Member
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    Perhaps not selling them sugar as a health food so that their attempts to improve their figures fail would be a more effective strategy.

    ^this
  • TheJhazminShow
    TheJhazminShow Posts: 17
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    I think these horrible things about myself all the time, but I would never express them in public. Anyone who does is fishing for compliments to make themselves feel better. I prefer to keep my self-shaming private, thank you! :P

    --

    The source is suspect and the message awkward at best. "Women saying bad stuff about themselves makes it harder to lose weight!" No duh. "They should stop talking bad about themselves not because self-love is important, but because weight-loss is what we make the most mone..... AHEM I mean weight-management should be every woman's primary goal!"

    Special K is revolting and not something I personally consider healthy, cereals in general are not on my list of health-pursuing foods, that's for sure. It's basically a big box of preservatives and sugar and GMO grains, whoopee! Not to mention that NO ONE eats an actual serving size and feels satisfied. ***** pls.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
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    Special K commercials used to bug me, even fairly recently, for having extremely thin women on them starting their diet. Starting their diet?! It was seriously like having a thin woman trying to look like a runway model.

    I'm not one to think skinny people are unhealthy, but it is probably an unhealthy message to put them on the 'Before' side like it's completely natural they'd need to go on a diet.

    So I don't trust their marketing folks at all. Not that I trust any marketing folks :D
  • MelissaPhippsFeagins
    MelissaPhippsFeagins Posts: 8,063 Member
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    I like special K and eat it often, but not because it makes me feel better about my body.

    Ditto! I thought I was the only person on the planet that seriously ENJOYS their original, plain old Special K cereal. I love it with unsweetened vanilla almond milk!

    I used to eat it before my Celiac diagnosis. Now if I eat cold cereal it's some kind of GF Chex - usually the sugary vanilla coated one. And I do feel satisfied with a serving because I eat it with fruit and sometimes even scrambled egg whites as a part of my breakfast. 150 calories of anything is a snack, not a full meal. I did the same when I was eating special K. Breakfast has never been my problem; my overeating happened after lunch in my before MFP life.
  • tempehforever
    tempehforever Posts: 183 Member
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    I love how Special K is all like, gee, isn't it SAD that women hate their bodies?

    Hmm, wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that companies LIKE SPECIAL K have been telling us for years we're supposed to want to lose weight? Remember the whole "lose 14 lbs in 1 month" by replacing 2 out of 3 meals with a rice cereal thing?

    LOLOLOLOL.

    Basically Special K has started using the types of messages that the body-posittive movement has been using for YEARS to sell a product that has spent the last several decades making women feel terrible.

    Yeahhhh, this *kitten* is not empowering.
  • ginajie637
    ginajie637 Posts: 2
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    I'm not a fan of companies that run stunts like this alongside their usual adverts that focus around women constantly needing to lose weight, making money off lowering the self-esteem of women, pushing the idea that women have a constant need to be on a diet and needs to drop 2 dress sizes before they can display themselves publicly in a nice dress. That it is coming from them makes the message lose impact for me because I know come summer they'll have the same adverts pushing the idea that you are too fat to wear a swimsuit and cannot do so until you are a size 10.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Most of their commercials are about how we shouldn't feel bad about our bodies - while saying we need to do their diet to be thin and everyone in them is thin. Such a mixed message. I didn't watch the whole video - but at least this one had different body sizes.

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