Killing Me Softly Reflection

I found this week’s lecture very interesting. The video we watched, “Killing Me Softly 3” was informative and provocative. I have always known about the impact media can have on the trends and behaviors of people, but I feel like this video was a more direct demonstration of this idea. I thought it was particularly interesting when the video emphasized the point that many ads on TV or in print use models in ways that have nothing to do with the product, and give no information about the products uses.

I originally heard about this video when I was designing the curriculum for the health class I currently teach. One of my colleagues, a former health educator, said it was a great video to show our students when we teach the nutrition and body awareness portion of our class. After watching this video, one fact that was emphasized really stood out as pertinent for these kids to hear: That the majority of the ads advertised use a body type that only the minority actually have. While I think teenagers, and people in general, realize this fact simply by looking around, it is nevertheless disheartening to hear someone comment on the attractiveness and oogle the goodies of a person and body type that is actually not even obtainable.

When I see videos like this it makes me appreciate advertising that is creative, tasteful, doesn’t make anyone feel bad or starve themselves, and is most importantly, effective. I know when we worked out our posters for our media campaign we were thoughtful to use different body shapes, and in the end actually focused just on the message itself; the food. I think we did a good thing by letting the food speak for itself, and after today’s focus group it seemed as though our audience understood what we were aiming for