Maybe I'm putting too much meaning to it, but lately some TV ads are sending out grains of thought that have set off my mental alarm system. Here's one quote from a popular beauty brand:
It doesn't matter if you're 40, just as long as you look 30!
So, does that mean it's wrong to look 40 at 40? What went wrong with looking your age? This is exactly the reason people are never happy for who they are: because they waste so much stamina in worrying about how they look.
Here's another one from a food brand:
Bawal magsinungaling.... Hindi masama ang instant noodles.
(It's wrong to lie.... Instant noodles aren't bad for you.)
Why, that's a lie already! The ad then elaborates that the noodles no longer have artificial preservatives, and that's what makes it so healthy. But it completely overlooks the fact that instant noodles are unhealthy because of the high salt content, which is known to aggravate heart problems like hypertension.
Unintentional? Perhaps. But when you're trying to sell stuff, all tricks seem fair. As a consumer, one must always be careful. To put it bluntly, beware of brainwashing.
6 comments:
I just saw that 40-30 ad for the first time the other night! My sentiments exactly. It's one thing to make efforts to look one's best, but being ashamed of one's age (whether one tries to look younger or older than the real age, because of vanity) is something I hope we could wipe out from people's mindset eventually.
(Now I don't know if this will completely invalidate my comment up there, but sometimes I wish I look my age, haha. Does that mean I'm guilty of the same sentiment? Not satisfied with what I have...)
hehe! I have a friend who keeps her hair long so she would look her age. Mukha raw siyang kid with short hair. I think wishing to look more like your age is quite different from wanting to defy time just bec you're ashamed you're already 40 or 50 or something. :)
Why be ashamed of the years you have lived???
This is just my theory: I think it's only in societies where broadcast and print media and internet access are quite advanced that people tend to develop negative ideas about ageing.
I remember that article I read in a teen magazine that claimed that in the Fiji islands, after TV viewing increased among the population, and then programs like Melrose Place were aired, they suddenly had cases of anorexia. Go figure.
the slogan of an ad agency i once worked for, goes: "truth well told." i don't know, but i'd always been bothered by it, because--are there really ways of telling the truth other than telling it the way it is?
Hi May! That's interesting... :D
there are many ways to say something but only one way to tell the truth, and that is, truthfully.
...the slogan makes me think they dress up the truth so it looks good.
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