Behind the scenes at a McDonald’s photo shoot. Isabel B from Toronto asked “Why does your food look different in the advertising than what is in the store?” And naturally this is explained by the director of marketing for McDonald’s Canada. And yes, I am sure the director of marketing walked into a McDonald’s, camera crew in tow, and purchased the same sandwich that everyone else would get. Did you pick up on the sarcasm there?
I don’t eat clean 100% of the time. But when I do have a cheat meal, it certainly isn’t this crap. What this video did for me was show me just what I already knew, that the product in the ads is delicately, studio prepared and later digitally enhanced and nowhere close to the typical sub-2 minute preppred garbage that gets stored under heat lamps and labeled “food”.
No thank you, McDonald’s.
Filed Under: Damage Control / I Have Money to make
So Paula Deen has recently appeared on the news stating that she has been diagnosed with Type-2 Diabetes. But rather than admit that what she encourages people to cook is unhealthy garbage, she has teamed up with a medical company and is also not changing how she eats.
Sounds like a great role model to me. But hey, when you have a TV show and books to sell, all based around this crap, what would you really expect her to do?
In the video, I see a few disturbing things. First and foremost is her health. Type-2 Diabetes is not a common cold, and if she says she is not changing how she eats, and is merely going to medicate the condition, then it does not sound like she is interested in reversing the condition to me. They also bring in a “third party” to take attention away from the fact that this woman makes food which is a contributor toward the condition by mentioning other risk factors.
She claims to support “moderation” in her meals. WHAT? Hitler was also said to have written Hallmark Cards. I mean, this lady is over the top. Has anyone ever watched her show? Oh yea, here is how to make a 5 million calorie cake, but you should only eat a very tiny piece after 30 minutes of cardio. I want someone to go find that segment of ANY of her shows and point it out. Please! This women made fattening foods, told others how to do it, made millions off the process, and is worried about her income.
I could go on and on about this, but seriously, her appearance on the show was damage control and more marketing, evident in this statement:
“I’m here today to let the world know that it is not a death sentence,” said the Food Network star, who is now being paid as a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company that supplies her diabetes medication.
Get real, Paula Deen.
File this under “Unnecessary”
“Why a personal trainer is making himself obese… on purpose”
You can read the full story here via Yahoo! but the Cliff Notes version is that this personal trainer is making himself overweight so that he can “experience for himself what it’s like to be overweight, how tough it is to lose weight, and ultimately show others how to get fit.” My first thought was “this guy is an idiot” and after reading the article I realize that I was not far off base, though he is more misguided than anything else. This makes about as much sense to me as the idiot runner who thought she would train for a marathon using only a fast food diet.
The lengths that people will go to market themselves will never cease to amaze me. I would expect someone who has chosen a profession of helping others reach a healthy lifestyle to fully understand the dangers associated with being overweight and want to avoid that at all costs. Maybe the dip in the economy calls for drastic measures but placing your health at risk should not be the answer to your financial problems.
He does not need to experience what it is like to go from fat to thin in order to be able to effectively train people. Look at the shape he was in before he started down this road. In my mind, that alone would be a great marketing tool. It is apparent that he knows what he is doing to achieve that level of fitness and maintain it.
And I’m sorry, but being overweight for 6 months after forcing yourself to gain the weight is NOTHING compared to someone who has lived their life unhealthy and is trying to change it. Someone who has always been healthy, and forces themselves to gain weight for a short period of time, will NEVER truly be able to relate to someone who has battled with weight all of their life. That is not possible. Imagine someone going to rehab and hearing a counselor say “I drank alcohol for 6 months and then stopped so that I could understand how you feel.” It is absurd, unrealistic, and borderline insulting to think you could gain that type on insight. It is more than the physical changes. The emotional baggage that comes with spending your life unhealthy/overweight can at times be more than the physical part.
All that aside, I think the health implications are too great to ignore. The added pressure to his joints, strain on his heart, cholesterol, hypertension, and other many untold risks that he is unnecessarily putting his body through is really quite stupid. Why put your body at risk to prove a point? He is quoted as saying:
If others can live years with these unhealthy risk factors, like high BP, glucose levels, cholesterol levels, triglycerides, etc. then I can last another 4 weeks.
Isn’t that the point, though, to NOT live with any of that? Truth be told, this guy isn’t really “living with it”. He is passing through. Trying having hypertension for 7 years. Try having joint pains for years. Try carrying around the emotional baggage of being teased in school because of your weight. Don’t pretend that you will figure it out in 6 months. And don’t put your body at unnecessary risk if you don’t have to.
What he should be doing to market himself and his training abilities, aside from this silly publicity stunt, is to use real stories from people he has helped, coupled with his own fitness/nutrition regiment. Show me real stories of people he has helped with him smiling beside them. Show me testimonials from people who have fought their weight all their life and finally won. Show me before and afters of real world people, who work for a living and take care of kids and still find time to bust their butts in the gym. Show me that. I could at least respect that.
