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Equally sinister are the advertisements that remind us by repetition and
erasure that unless we are youthful, blonde, thin, able-bodied, and muscular,
with perfectly white teeth and glossy hair, we are fatally flawed and will
need their product… eventually. (By the way, no one is all those things
forever.) Advertisers and product makers want your money now. Are they
willing to wait until you have watched sixty hours of television actors with
perfect ivory teeth and have finally awakened to the epiphany that you must
buy teeth-whitening strips? Of course! But why bother waiting? Body-
Shame Profit Complex profiteers know it is easier and more economically
efficient to sell us body shame directly, to simply say “You suck” rather
than allude to it. They prefer to highlight your epic flaws in grand detail on
repeat until you get up off your couch and go give them your money!
Not only does this toxic messaging impact our spending, turning us into
detriment buyers, but it also impacts how we talk about ourselves and
others. Let’s say you are out shopping for new jeans, and as you begin to try
them on you think aloud, “I have to get rid of this unsightly belly flab!” You
know you have never used the words unsightly and flab together, but
suddenly you are a parrot for body-shame advertisers, speaking their
carefully crafted messages over your own body. Toxic messages become
our internal outside voice. After we’ve ingested enough body shame, these
declarations become the narrative through which we speak about our own
bodies, often without even noticing.
What can we do to get out of the toxic sludge of media marketing?
Limit our media intake. If we cannot limit it, be intentional about what we
ingest. Next time you are watching television, notice what commercials
your favorite shows air between scenes. Those commercials indicate what
advertisers believe about you as a consumer. Commercials use racial and
gender stereotypes to target your wallets because they know that doing so
works. This is a perfect place to put best-interest buying into practice.
Television shows make money through ratings and advertising. Each show
you watch puts money in some producer’s and advertiser’s pockets. Ask
yourself, “Does this show and its commercials align with my radical selflove
values?” If the answer is no, then the next question is “Why am I
giving them my money?” If we think of our time and brain capacity as
dollars, we may become a bit more particular about how we spend them.
When we are connected to our thoughts, we can identify how they are being
dragged along by toxic media. If you have a body-shame hangover after