Thursday Night Television: Ugly Betty and Weight Watchers
I used to be one of those people who thought tv was generally terrible and for the uneducated masses. Then I got cable. My how things have changed since I got a DVR. Not only did I start watching television, I started watching a lot of it! I suddenly could control what was on, and it was great. I got HBO and Showtime, then a giant television, and then Netflix. Everything I was watching was prerecorded, and most of it was movies. Then something else happened, Thursday night suddenly had great shows. I began watching live television again, commercials and all. (And let me tell you there is some crazy stuff going on in commercials right now.)
When My Name Is Earl premiered I braced myself for the worst. I knew I’d watch because I love Jason Lee, but I had no idea it would actually be good. They’ve managed to find a formula that ensures endless plots instead of recycled sitcom scenarios. Tonight’s episode is in Smell-o-vision, something which will always gross me out, but remains novel.
Next came 30 Rock, another show I expected the worst from, but proved to be surprisingly smart and silly at once. I never really got into Scrubs, and since I saw the original Office first I’m not really into the American version.
Now we have Ugly Betty, perhaps my favorite show on television at the moment. While sometimes I feel the show’s ideals are conflicted, and it tends to rely too heavily on stereotypes (though I love that they have a teenage boy who’s neither brooding or macho) , the overall message always seems to come through. The strangest part about this show, is Ugly Betty isn’t ugly. Not even a little bit. I guess Americans think big glasses and braces are enough to make someone unattractive. I think her glasses are fabulous. The end of every episode leaves you feeling pretty good that Betty can triumph in a world whose standards are the exact opposite of hers, until last night, when right smack in the middle of the show was a commercial for Weight Watchers.
I know that in order for a show to stay on the air, they have to be receiving advertiser dollars. But now instead of sending the message “be yourself and people will respect you, inner beauty…” and all that, it now sends the message “be yourself, unless of course you’re fat, then go on a diet.” The bottom line is I don’t think Weight Watchers is evil, sometimes dieting makes people feel better about themselves, and as long as it’s healthy and not some extreme crash fad diet, this is a positive thing.
The problem I have with the Weight Watchers commercials, however, is the women portrayed in the commercials as needing to diet all look pretty normal. To me it seems as though Weight Watchers is presenting some sort of “ideal” weight and if you exist outside that, then you need to get your fat ass on a diet, and who the hell is Weight Watchers to tell me what is and is not okay with my body? And why is Ugly Betty, a show very much about the importance of inner beauty, selling this crap? And just for the record, the Weight Watchers frozen dinners taste like rehydrated barf in a box.
I agree with your assessment that the WW commercials are somewhat unrealistic; however, I disagree that they are sending a negative message about body image. Our society is so overweight right now that we are literally eating ourselves to death. The debate is no longer about body image and perception but, instead, it is about saving lives. Diabetes is out of control and 65% of diabetics die of heart disease. The #1 cause of all of this is being overweight. And, did you know that today’s generation of children will most likely be the first to live LESS than their parents. Why? B/c they are too overweight and will develop diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and heart disease. This is sickening and people cannot walk around thinking that being overweight is healthy and okay. True, we cannot let ourselves and others be discrimnated against for being overweight but neither can we pretend any longer that being overweight is ‘just the way that it is’. It is a major health risk, it is causing diabetes in children, and, plain and simple, it is reducing our quality of life. The people on the commercials may not seem overweight but I also think that many of us have an unrealistic idea of what overweight is. We’ve grown so accustomed to seeing people who are morbidly obese (yes, the medical community has had to create new definitions of overweight to accommodate the new increase in obesity (read: super-obese for BMI>40)) that we no longer realize what a healthy weight is. Most would be suprised to know what a healthy weight is for their height. And, to realize that that ‘healthy weight’ is not someone telling you what you should weigh, but rather is based on scientific data that looks at the risk of death and disease for people at different weights. Thus, a person’s healthy weight range is the range at which they have the lowest risk for disease and death, not someone’s ideal of what they should weigh. The fact of the matter is that being only 10lbs overweight can raise blood pressure and increase the risk for diabetes. I have plenty of people in my clinic who may not look overweight but they have type 2 diabetes. We hear so much about how the media is contributing to a negative body image but what is the proof as we continue to balloon to new weights each year. Our society is fatter than it has ever been. And being overweight kills far more people each year than anorexia or bulimia.
Hi Therese, thanks for your thought out comment, though next time for readability’s sake you may want to try paragraphs
While I agree there is an obesity epidemic and am aware of many of the facts you presented, Weight Watchers is not a solution for the extremely overweight. The women presented as being so in that particular commercial were rather average (and also not plus size) looking in my opinion.
The real problem is we place the bar too high for women’s bodies and it’s hypocritical to show a commercial perpetuating this during a show whose message is one of acceptance. This was not about obesity, which is in itself another problem to be addressed by a medical professional and not a corporate diet scheme.
Hello Beth,
Sorry about the lack of paragraphs. This is honestly my first time posting to a blog.
Anyway, I would agree that weight watchers may not be a solution for the extremely overweight (although it could be); however, it is really not them that i am referring to. My point is that obesity is such an epidemic that it has made us lose sight if what normal is. The fact is, you do not have to be plus-sized to be overweight. Right now, people do not even think that they are overweight until they are 50-60 pounds overweight. But, the reality is that, if you are a female who is 5′3″ and you weigh greater than 135lbs, you are overweight. If you weigh over 163lbs, you are obese. My point is that you do not have to weigh 200# or be morbidly obese to put yourself at serious risk for health problems. And this is not society telling us this, it is just a scientific reality based on years of research and study.
Honestly, I just do not feel that we place the bar too high. It is not unrealistic to expect people to maintain a helath body weight. You do not have to starve like the supermodels, you just have to be sensible. It has become far too acceptable in today’s society to be overweight and I just do not see their being much impact from ‘unrealistic expectations on women’. If women were being influenced by this, the obesity problem would be much less. As it is, more an more people are overweight (just overweight, not obese) every year.
There is always a backlash against the media portraying women unrealistically. All I want is a backlash against a society that ignores our weight problem b/c this is more serious than unrealistic body images. The medical statistics show that on a daily basis. People need to speak out and demand more action. Some suggestion: nutrition classes be taught throughout school, parents receive them in the hospital after giving birth, fast food restaurants pay higher taxes due to the burden they place on the healthcare system, gym classes throughout all grades of school, health insurance companies pay for gym memberships/personal trainers, etc.
So, I understand your issue about acceptance but we also need to accept that it is just not okay to be overweight. And, that we have lost sight of what being overweight really is. We’ve accepted this for far too long and the problems are massive. We need to accept people and work to help them so that they can lead long, healthy, productive lives. So, airing this commercial during Ugly Betty does not seem terrible. Hopefully, the show allowed some people to feel good enough about themselves that they decided they finally had the courage to make a change. And, if that change was weight watchers, so be it. Studies show that those in a group program (smoking cessation, weight loss, AA) always have a higher success rate than those who go it alone.
And, I do not think that WW is a corporate diet scheme. It is scientifically validated in numerous medical journals for ‘long-term weight loss’ and there is no other advertised diet that can say that. In fact, many health insurance companies (including the one that most of my patients have)are starting to pay for this b/c they see the benefits. Unlike nutri-system, it empower the person and teaches them to make wise food decisions (rather than just mailing them the food). I do not work for weight watchers but I have seen it work for many people, even some very obese people.
Well, I agree with many of your points, however I still don’t see how they relate to my post. Out of curiousity, do you work for Weight Watchers?