I've noticed that my attitudes have changed a lot on my journey. Things that never bothered me before or gave me a pause now make me sit and think or embellish on the ad and wonder if the companies really think these things through.

A few that have made me pause lately...

The candy ad where the guy stands in front of a cupboard and ignores the plethora of healthy snacks being flung at him, then orders the candies to "get in the bowl".

The peanut butter ad where the mom sends her daughter a jar at college and chats with her as she lays on the bed and spoons pb straight from the jar into her mouth (sure, her stomach is flat now, but lets keep those habits up through mid-terms)

The budget frozen pizza ad where the kids fling away their halloween candy to nosh down on their pizza (you might as well have let them eat the candy for dinner for the fat and calorie count on those pizzas).

what ads make you pause these days?

Yes! Even just regular TV, I always find myself thinking "wow, these are so suggestive. I want a ___ now." And I realise that that was one of my biggest downfalls before, not realising what I was being told subconciously.

If only there were ads that made fresh fruits and veggies look as good as the junk that companies pay millions to get us to buy

It seems anything that is about vegetables or fruit is about hiding them in other foods so you trick your family into eating them.

i'm skeptical of almost every commercial. i try to talk about it with the kids. the commercials for 'fruit' snacks. i refuse to buy. the infomercials for toys that will break in 5 mins. it's all suggestive, and you have to have this right now! no. no i don't.
and we talk about how the commercial says it 'only' costs 19.99. but what could they buy with that money that would be worth it? is the pillow that's also a stuffed animal worth it? plus another 10 for 'shipping'. it's all such a rip off.

some vending machines at schools have baby carrots.

After taking an advertising class in university I was surprised how susceptible I was to marketing ploys without even realizing it. Even now that I'm more aware of these ploys and of nutrition its weird how often I find myself desiring not-so-healthy things.

The thing is, they do think those ads through. Each one represents an incredible amount of time & money. They've thought them through extremely carefully, based on focus groups & surveys of attitudes & eating habits.

What we're discovering when we look at food ads & feel appalled is that our new healthier habits have taken us WAY out of the mainstream in our culture.

And isn't that somehow deeply saddening?

But we had to do it & it's not worth going back to.

Most of these have the opposite effect on me. I sit there calculating how many calories whatever it is would be and how NOT worth it it would be to eat it. Any commercial where they make food look "sexy" I think dude thats like 800 calories do you know what I could eat with that. Or I wonder hmm, low fat but how much added sugar or whatever did you add to make it tasty? is it one of thos weird serving things (like a can of soda is considered 2 servings which makes no sense to me)

The ones about cheese bug me. The kids refuse asparagus until Mom pours melted cheese over them.

My peeve is the canned pasta "don't tell the kid's it contains a serving of vegetables," commercials - especially since the "vegeteable" in question is tomato sauce.

Even the adult V-8 commercials aimed at adults sends the "vegetables taste horrible" message.

It does make me wonder how many people think like the commercials. Do the commercials reflect people's existing beliefs? or Do they influence people's beliefs? (probably a bit of both).

oh i totally do that! looking at the pictures of grease and stuff. all these reasons why it's just not worth it. even my fav. kind of pizza. papa johns. i read 1 slice has 14 g. of fat. holy batman! i used to eat 2 or 3 slices. now i can just have a little sliver. or none. so much more, and higher quality i could do with those cals with alot less fat. or make my own healthy pizza with veggies.

the hidden valley ranch commercial makes all veggies look like gifts given straight from god........like a forbidden fruit.....only problem is, they are all smothered in ranch dressing........LMAO........

yea i really don't get the tomato sauce or ravioli commercials. most kids and people like tomatoes, or at least the sauce. it doesn't even count as a real veggie, unless there's more veggies mixed in.

it's important to teach kids early how great fruits/veggies can be. how they give us lots of energy to run faster, longer. No one wants to be hungry in class waiting untill lunch. when they have a healthy breakfast or other meal they stay satisfied much longer. and many other reasons. we have to teach them how exciting, fun, and delicious healthy food can be. there needs to be commercials to teach that. i feel like every time i don't buy poptarts or fruit snacks or whatever, i'm voting. i was making a big deal out of fiber before it was cool. now fiber is in everything. i hate that they have bars that taste like candy. like that's they only way to get your fiber to taste good.

Ditto kaplods. In my opinion those commercials just reinforce to the kids that are watching that vegetables are bad and they have to be tricked into eating them. We're a sick society making ourselves sicker.