By Shirley S. Wang
Controversy over the message emanating from Pepsi’s new “skinny” diet soda can has been bubbling, as the Associated Press reports. Now, the National Eating Disorders Association has proclaimed its dissatisfaction.
Why the big fuss?
“I could care less about the shape of the can,” Lynn Grefe, head of NEDA, tells the Health Blog. “They could make it doughnut-shaped for all I care.”
It’s the Diet Pepsi media campaign that’s the problem, she says. The campaign celebrates being skinny and suggests that strong, confident women must be so. That the Skinny Can campaign is being paired with Fashion Week, an event put on by an industry that has had to address eating disorders among its model ranks, is particularly problematic, says Grefe.
This campaign won’t cause anyone to develop an eating disorder, but could trigger someone who is already vulnerable to negative body-image issues to start dieting or become more extreme in their dieting, which could eventually lead to disordered eating, says Grefe.
Many studies have examined the role of media in perpetuating the message that being thin is good. One study followed adolescent girls on the island of Fiji before and after the introduction of television and it’s Western, pro-thinness message, and found that girls’ interest in dieting increased after watching TV because they wanted to copy the actors.
And recent evidence shows that hospitalizations for eating disorders are on the rise, calling attention to the messages that are being perpetuated about thinness and dieting.
“It is exactly that kind of thinking that has truly caused the increase in people feeling bad about themselves,” says Grefe.
NEDA doesn’t have problem with the mere use of the word skinny, says Grefe. For instance, It didn’t protest skinny jeans, but it did assail Apple’s first iPod ad campaign because it promoted the message, “You can never be too thin or too powerful.” After being contacted, Apple took down the campaign almost immediately, says Grefe.
Pepsi said it never intended to equate beauty with thinness. “We are sensitive to this interpretation, and that is definitely not our intent,” said a Pepsi spokeswoman. “We intend to highlight the innovative look for Diet Pepsi and provide our fans with an ‘inside look’ at events that celebrate innovation and style.” The company plans to continue with its marketing campaign.
Image: PR Newswire/PepsiCo
So let me get this straight…. Just because a small percentage of people have eating disorders, the rest of the world is supposed to avoid saying the word “skinny” or feeling good about ourselves because we exercise and don’t eat junk food, thus staying in a healthy shape.
Eating disorders are sad and tragic, but they are a mental disorder that WILL find a trigger no matter how hard we try to hide the fact that a healthy body shape is just that: healthy. You can avoid the word skinny and every other word that denotes healthy, normal fitness but the eating disorder will still find a way to manifest itself. If you take away adverts, then the person will simply compare themselves to people in public. What would you have us do then? Make everyone who is fit wear baggy clothes?
Sorry for all of those who have suffered, but don’t blame the media, or pepsi for your own mental disorders.
This is an example of the total contempt giant Pepsi-Cola Co. has for everyone…consumers and their own employees.
Pepsi: why!? I’m trying to be ok with having a normal, healthy and imperfect body - but misguided advertising like this makes it so hard!! How can anyone be ok with being “normal” when we’re constantly having the “skinny=beautiful” mentality rubbed in our faces?! It’s not the can itself but the campaign that I have a problem with. Rethink this, please.
I have struggled with an eating disorder for 11 years, and I think this “skinny can” idea is sick. Rather than using your can to make women think that they have to be super-skinny, advertise this product as a healthier alternative.
As a mother of an eating disorder daughter who has gone from the extreme of anorexia to the opposite spectrum of bolemia I can only hope that your campaign does not effect one single victim of an eating disorder. I doubt that my hope will come true because I know your new campaign will effect the thousands of girls out there who are struggling to just survive this horrible disease. Pepsi, you just have no idea what this kind of advertising can actually do to these girls. I pray for each and every one of them and hope that my daughter, who is currently in a residential treatment center for the third time, is one of the lucky ones, and actually recovers from this life threatening disease.