Week Nine: Food

This week's chapter from Tooning In, "Popular Culture and the Dark Side of Food," turned out to be one of the most interesting chapters we've read so far. Much of the chapter focused on historical changes to the perception of the ideal body images and the disordered eating that has resulted from it. I've never read a historical analysis of body images linked to power structures before, but it makes total sense. The essay argues that as women gained more power in society (such as the right to vote and leadership positions in the workplace), "popular culture demanded that women show they were in control of their lives by being in control of their weight, the lower the better" (White 134). While I've heard the link between personal control/power issues and eating disorders, I'd never heard it explained at the societal level.

Another part of the essay I found especially interesting was its discussion of processed foods. Women, especially in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, were expected to define themselves by their ability to nurture their families. As the Industrial Revolution brought the rise of the processed food industry, advertising worked to "convince women that processed food was not only healthier for their families but brought rewards to the busy homemaker" (133). Women had to come to grips with the claims that formula was better for their babies than the breastmilk that came from their own bodies. Essentially, "the traditional role of nurturer was taken away" (133).

It was fascinating to me reading about how advertising of a particular product can completely change the societal roles as well as the physical and emotional health of a group of people. Research now tells us that natural foods and breastmilk are far healthier than formula and other processed foods. The organic and natural foods movement is doing its best to reverse the trend Heinz and other companies started a century ago, but I'm beginning to be convinced it's too late.

In the July/August 2008 issue of my very favorite nerdy magazine, Mental Floss, there was an article that explained how advertising spurred a similar shift in thinking. The article is called "Just Add Milk: How Cereal Transformed American Culture," an it's equally fascinating. Before the invention of cereal, "most Americans subsisted on a diet of pork, whiskey and coffee" (Lendler 54). A group of Christian fundamentalists blamed most health problems on meat consumption, and introduced a cereal called Granula "offered consumers a sin-free meat alternative that aimed to clear both conscience and bowels" (54). Dr. John Kellogg knocked off the product, dropping the religious message but promoting cereal's health factor.

Soon other companies like Post had picked up the idea of breakfast cereal because it's easy to produce and selling well. Because all the companies were selling essentially the same product under different names, advertisers realized they had to add a little something extra to get their brand off the shelves--cartoon character mascots. Soon, cereal advertising became geared almost entirely to children and something clicked in advertisers minds: "kids don't care about their colons. They want sugar. Lots of sugar" (57). The sugar cereal was born, and within 50 years the entire idea of the American breakfast had been completely transformed.

I think the cereal example is the perfect lesson to use in the classroom because it demonstrates how much food is linked to popular culture. Kids especially want to eat certain things because of their image more than health or even taste. The power of advertising to change society's values is a real thing that should be critically explored with young people.