Dineen Sampson

Health

My Pop Culture Essay:

In my world, I understand popular culture as being a prevailing group of ideas; perspectives and attitudes that are deemed preferred within a given mainstream culture and are heavily influenced by the mass media. As I reflect on this definition I ask myself, what is my relationship with popular culture? I have never considered myself the type of person whose life is consumed in or by popular culture. In terms of the technology age that has come to consume the American way of life, I deem myself out of the loop. I have a cell phone that barley texts messages, twitter and blogging is a foreign language to me, and I am lucky if I can open a word document on my computer. Aside from that, other popular culture such as celebrity gossip and reality television has yet to really capture my attention. Yet, there is more to popular culture then just technology and celebrity gossip. Taking a deeper look into the world around me, I discovered that nutrition, exercise and overall maintaining a health lifestyle are major parts of my everyday life.

Being an athlete I have always been consumed with nutrition and exercise. I think that eating healthy and working out regularly is an extremely important part of life and because of this my plan is to continue on into graduate school in pursuit of a degree in nutrition. When analyzing how nutrition and exercise apply to my everyday life, it was not hard to see that popular culture had a major impact on my love for nutrition. My outlet for current nutrition information, trendy exercise programs and new exercise equipment, is all based on what the mass media reports as the up and coming popular health trends.

When studying popular culture, nutrition and exercise are normally not the first topics that come to mind. Yet, if one were to take a closer look at the world around them, they would see that our culture is obsessed with nutrition and exercise. The importance of maintaining a healthy fit body is all around us. Magazines, television, movies, books, infomercials and celebrities are just a few of the ways the mass media interjects nutrition and exercise into our lives. Standing in the grocery store, one is presented with numerous magazines that advertise the newest diets and ways to stay fit like the stars. Television is loaded with infomercials trying to sell you their newest exercise machine that will get you thin and toned. Celebrities are constantly revealing there diet and exercise secrets on television and in the tabloids and there are a countless number of books concerning any diet you can think of. Whether one realizes it or not nutrition is a popular issue in America’s popular culture.

Popular trends concerning nutrition and health consume our everyday culture. This has become such a popular issue within our cultures because of the highly publicized obesity epidemic. According to Ali H. Mokdad, in his article The Spread of the Obesity Epidemic in the United States, the increasing prevalence of obesity is a major public health concern in the United States and now obesity is considered a national epidemic. On the other side, popularity is also raised form the constant pressures from celebrities and the fashion industry to be thin and beautiful, which in some instances can negatively result in eating disorders and malnutrition. In a way the nutrition trends can be seen as a doubled edged sword. The promotion of exercise and nutrition can help fight America’s obesity epidemic yet when promoted in the wrong light can portray unhealthy body image.

Dieting is a major part of our popular culture in America. According to Sarah Gibbons, author of the article America’s Obsession with Dieting, about half of all Americans try to lose weight, or maintain their weight, every year. In an effort to lose weight people purchase the most popular weight loss pills; special herbal supplements; and formulated weight loss drinks, foods, and diet bars, which are highly advertised in the mass media. People also join health clubs or spas, or buy special weight loss and exercise equipment, in an effort to lose weight and improve their health. Among the common types of diets people follow, celebrity diets are hugely popular, and are promoted all over the mass media; such as magazines, infomercials, television and books. American’s are obsessed with losing weight and this obsession is constantly encouraged and promoted by the media and advertising companies. Sarah Gibbons, explains that dieting fads such as; the South Beach diet, the popcorn diet, the raw foods diet, and the low carb diet are developed everyday. Her research also shows that, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Americans spend over $40 billion a year on dieting products and services. America’s obsession and fixation on dieting is rapidly growing, and is constantly pushed on us through the means of the mass media. As I consume health and nutrition throughout my everyday life, it is quite obvious to see that dieting is a major part of our day to day culture.

Over the years popular health magazines have been my obsession and connection to the popular culture of healthy living. I absolutely love health magazines and have a constant need for them month to month. Unfortunately, with every love or obsession there is a price to pay. There are about four to five popular health magazines that I am drawn to each month. Costing about five to six dollars an issue this turns into a twenty-five dollar a month habit, which over a year adds up to about three hundred dollars. It is hard to think that I spend that kind of money just to read about the up and coming trends in nutrition and exercise, but my enjoyment and satisfaction from this form of popular culture justifies the means.

Apart from magazines, television also plays a major role in nutrition and exercise. The Biggest Loser, is another way in which I participate in the popular culture of maintaining a healthy me. Watching this show and others like it provides me with new ways to workout, eat health and motivate myself. The Biggest Loser, has a huge national following, which shows that overcoming obesity and striving for a healthier body is a popular attitude and belief throughout our culture.

As I self-reflect on nutrition, exercise, and overall healthy living I ask myself, how am I part of a larger social community that also loves this popular culture? I do not consider myself apart of the obesity epidemic, eating disorder problem or over all diet crazed community, but I do see myself as part of a larger community filled with people who are conscious of their life style and who take pride in promoting and maintaining a healthy enjoyable way of life. The processes of going to the gym, running, purchasing healthy food, preparing healthy meals and reading up on nutrition and health tips is a lifestyle that me and many other people throughout the larger social community take part in and are proud of everyday. I find it quite obvious that the process of maintaining a healthy lifestyle is very prevalent in our larger social community. When looking at television ratings for shows such as The Biggest Loser, sales rates on popular health magazines and diet books, and the popularity of trendy exercise equipment, health foods, dieting supplements and gym memberships, it easy to see the our culture is very much consumed and apart of this thriving nutritional lifestyle.

My history with nutrition, exercise and over all healthy living goes back as long as I can remember. I love reading up on the newest health tips and exercise programs and enjoy incorporating these things into my everyday life. To a certain extent, I believe I have a positive need to include these things into my life, in order to maintain a healthy happier me. It is obvious that all humans need food and some form of physical activity to survive but how our culture obtains the knowledge to incorporate these things in our everyday lives is very much influenced by our popular culture. Overall, these collective behaviors, attitudes and values reflecting nutrition, exercise and healthy living has come to represent America’s popular culture.

Celebrity Endorsements and Weight loss

 

 

NutriSystem®

Past and present celebrity spokespeople for NutriSystem® include:

 

• Tori Spelling (actress)
• Dan Marino (sports commentator, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback)
• Don Shula (former NFL coach)
• Steve Beuerlein (former NFL quarterback)
• Zora Andrich (television personality, Joe Millionaire winner)

Jenny Craig®

Past and present celebrity spokespeople for Jenny Craig® include:

• Queen Latifah   (rapper, singer, actress)
• Valerie Bertinelli (actress)
• Kirstie Alley (actress)
• Monica Lewinsky (former White House intern, entrepreneur)
• Kimberly Locke (singer, former American Idol contestant)

Weight Watchers®

Past and present celebrity spokespeople for Weight Watchers® include:

• Jenny McCarthy (model, comedian, actress, author)
• Sarah Ferguson, aka Fergie (Duchess of York)
• Lynn Redgrave (actress)

Slim-Fast®

Past and present celebrity spokespeople for Slim-Fast® include:

• Rachel Hunter (actress, model)
• Tommy Lasorda (former Major League Baseball pitcher, former MLB manager)
• Shari Belafonte (actress, model, writer, singer)
• Kathie Lee Gifford (actress, singer-songwriter, playwright, former co-host of Live with Regis and Kathie Lee)
• Whoopi Goldberg (The View moderator, actress, comedian, author)
• Ann Jillian (actress)

 

Found From: Teeple, Amy. “Jenny McCarthy, Anna Nicole Smith, Queen Latifah – Celebrity Diets / Endorsements.” DocShop – Patient Education and Medical Directory of Doctors – Einstein Industries. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2009. http://www.docshop.com/2008/01/31/diet-spokespeople-jenny-mccarthy-queen-latifah-dan-marino-and-everyone-in-between/.

 

Health, Political Economy, and Stuart Hall

           Stuart Hall’s idea of a ‘constantly changing cultural terrain’ within his peice, “Notes on Deconstructing ‘the Popular’” highlights the importance of transformation as a way to maintain popularity. In terms of nutrition and exercise trends, popular celebrity nutritionist and exercise gurus are continuously reworking health trends in an effort to come out with the newest diet and exercise fads presented in the mass media. This constant transformation and recreation works to maintain health trends as a persistent focus in our popular culture. Not only does the changing terrain of the popular health culture work to maintain interest in its loyal followers, it works to create new relations with people and tries to create ways that health can associate with all types of people and their condition of life. For example health gurus are always trying to create new and diverse ways that people can associate health in to their lives. From 10 minute exercise routines that a busy mom can fit into her schedule, to a muscle building formula men can take to increase their strength, the popular health culture is working to make a connection to all types of lifestyles. Ultimately if you think about it, health is not just for certain groups’ people, it should be able to relate to all people in efforts to maintain a healthy America.

            Although, it sounds good to think that all health trends can reach out to everyone, this is not entirely realistic. In terms of Hall’s ‘social and material conditions’ the social and material aspect of health trends can create a struggle between high and low class. It is the celebrity consumption and highly published interest in health fads that creates this divide. There are the standard gym memberships that are made affordable for many or simply running outside that is accessible to all, but when associated to celebrities and the higher class the expense of health trends increase significantly. Celebrities in the mass media present the idea to society that you need to personal chefs and nutritionist, expensive home gym and personal trainer, and the latest apparel to be ‘in’ with the popular health trends. Unfortunately, only the higher class can afford these lavish expenses. This shows that the material conditions within the health culture creates a division of classes yet without the higher class publicizing their lavish health trends, our societies obsession with body imagine which catapults health trends might not be as popular. Overall, celebrity’s expensive health trends broadcasted to the masses creates a divide based on the material condition and worth within the health culture yet this publicity creates social interest and popularity for these health trends through the means of celebrity status.