Dieting seems to be everywhere, with new fad diets constantly popping up only to lure in those looking for a magical solution for weight loss. There are special diet sections in most supermarkets, adverts on television and “thinspo” images on social media. What is interesting is that they all target women almost exclusively.
Why is this the case? Women are constantly being bombarded with information causing them to think they need to lose weight. Whilst I am by no means attacking someone who wants to lose weight to feel more confident, I do believe that the diet companies should not be the ones telling us we need to do that. Statistically, women are more likely to try different diet plans than men, and this can be attributed to the various marketing schemes employed by diet companies. The use of support schemes, female models and celebrity endorsements all appeal to women’s emotions in order to attract them. The message is that if you go on this diet, you will lose weight and that will solve all of your problems.
Not only can it lead to a negative self-image, a lot of the time these diets promote unhealthy solutions that don’t bring long-term results. But that is how these companies continue to make their money. They offer you a quick fix, and once the diet is over and you return to your regular eating habits, you put the weight back on, and return to the diet in order to lose the weight again. It is a vicious cycle and the only way to break it would be to stop buying into fad diets and live a healthy lifestyle.
Women are the target audience, and they continue to buy into society’s dictations of what is considered attractive. This shaming makes easy solutions seem extremely attractive. Doing a 3 day juice cleanse or cutting out all carbs from your food intake for 2 weeks can sound daunting, but we are being told that at the end of it we can all look like Victoria’s Secret models and we go for it. It seems easier than putting in months of hard work at the gym and eating healthy. And it may be so, but it is harmful for the body and ultimately leaves us disappointed with the result, or lack there of.
Whilst men can also be subject to unrealistic societal expectations, they are rarely the target audience for diet advertising. It is unfair that women are being told that in order to look good they have to resort to unhealthy, ineffective and often expensive methods. The media makes us feel guilty about what we eat, and unhappy with the way we look. This shouldn’t be the case, and we need to become better informed on what is good for our bodies. A healthy lifestyle is not only a better weight loss solution, but it is also beneficial for our overall wellbeing.
Sofia Dedyukhina