MalNutrisystem
Jan. 11th, 2008 05:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tikistitchIt being January, they're running the NutriSystem ads again (along with the Weight Watchers ads, and special gym equipment-as-used-by-Chuck Norris ads).
One thing that occurs: when the ads feature men, the "success stories" go from huge to....well, not quite so huge. Really, there's at least one with a guy actually patting his somewhat-less-expansive beer gut.
When the ads feature women, however, they all go down from size 10* (!?!) to size....negative 2 or something. Really, they're all in bikinis. And the bikinis are nearly slipping off. Because none of them have hips any more.
We're not saying, OMG Nutrisystem sexizm DOOD!!! No doubt their marketing mandarins have studied this, and have figured out women and men respond to different things. And count us glad they don't show some of those male "afters" in bikinis. But, still.
There seems to be some disagreement about it, but according to a UCSF link on the web, the average dress size for an American woman is size 14, and a Christian Science Monitor link gave it as 12 or 14.
One thing that occurs: when the ads feature men, the "success stories" go from huge to....well, not quite so huge. Really, there's at least one with a guy actually patting his somewhat-less-expansive beer gut.
When the ads feature women, however, they all go down from size 10* (!?!) to size....negative 2 or something. Really, they're all in bikinis. And the bikinis are nearly slipping off. Because none of them have hips any more.
We're not saying, OMG Nutrisystem sexizm DOOD!!! No doubt their marketing mandarins have studied this, and have figured out women and men respond to different things. And count us glad they don't show some of those male "afters" in bikinis. But, still.
There seems to be some disagreement about it, but according to a UCSF link on the web, the average dress size for an American woman is size 14, and a Christian Science Monitor link gave it as 12 or 14.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 06:09 am (UTC)http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/mmdress.asp
It was probably a size 12, but close enough.
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 08:17 am (UTC)I got pretty steamed a few years ago when I'd gone to a Target looking for clothes, and their "plus-size" department started at SIZE 10. Somehow that just seems a bit wrong. I know everybody's proportions are different and stuff, but the last time I fit into a size 10, I was about 12 years old and weighed about 95 lb...
no subject
Date: 2008-01-15 03:19 pm (UTC)the last time I fit into a size 10, I was about 12 years old and weighed about 95 lb...
I saw an interesting doc on BBCA where they had a couple of normal-sized women try to get down to size 0. It ended up being horrible, and one of them started acting like she had an eating disorder! But one interesting fact I gleaned was that sizes like 0 and 2 (Bristish sizes - not sure what they are over here) are actually the size of the average LITTLE GIRL! "She's trying to slide into pants sized for a 5 year old." Kinda puts things in perspective.