4 ms·

Culture is easy to shift, Madison Avenue style ad companies specialize in it. The Frankfurt School is a positive theory that focuses on changing society. Modern

Culture is easy to shift, Madison Avenue style ad companies specialize in it. The Frankfurt School is a positive theory that focuses on changing society. Modern nudge initiatives are continuations of this. I would say that the majority of modern culture was at some point the product of some campaign.

petra 5y ago
Some parts of culture are easier to create than others. But losing weight? Endless amounts of effort is already spent towards this goal, it is deeply embedded in our culture(for ex. Fat shaming). I don't some large ad campaign would change that much.
- cjbgkagh 5y ago
  I think there is a rather powerful fat acceptance movement paid for by food lobbyists. Being fat is only socially unacceptable among my upper class friends, I think the middle class has leaned into it. I think being able to have healthcare discriminate based on smoking has been hugely impactful in cutting US smoking rates, I think the same should be done for being overweight.
  - acchow 5y ago
    They've flipped "fat shaming" into "fat pride", which is the latest territory of "wokeness"
  - dragonwriter 5y ago
    > I think there is a rather powerful fat acceptance movement paid for by food lobbyists. Fat anxiety is driven by food industry propagandists (more marketers than lobbyists.) Most weight-loss companies are basically high-priced subscription food services with add-on food marketing and a hook that gets people to pay for that as a service. While they've become a big enough business too often be standalone, it's not telling that Weight Watches spent a couple decades as a subsidiary of HJ Heinz. > I think being able to have healthcare discriminate based on smoking has been hugely impactful in cutting US smoking rates Health insurance was never prevented from discriminating on that basis, even while smoking rates went through the roof. There's plenty of policies for which there is evidence of utility in cutting smoking rates, health insurance price discrimination isn't one of them.
    - cjbgkagh 5y ago
      That’s a fair point, they can already discriminate. I think the insurance plans being tied to jobs led to non-smoking workplaces, and a non smoking workforce, so I think it put employment options for smokers at risk. I think the stats may have been tied to if employers could discriminate based on weight. I forgot the name of the study but I was compelled by the evidence when I saw it. It did speak to my biases so I’ve left the door open to being wrong.
- acchow 5y ago
  > But losing weight? Endless amounts of effort is already spent towards this goal The government can educate on and encourage healthy eating and fitness. The goal is not weight loss. Weight loss is just a side effect.
sometimeshuman 5y ago
The ad was written in my early childhood. "Can you pinch an inch ?", was the tag-line in a Kellogg's commercial decades ago. In part thanks to that advert, my entire life whenever I can pinch an inch I simply stop drinking my calories. Admittedly it is harder to eat healthy when you are time constrained and poor. But could there be anything faster and cheaper than pouring a glass of filtered tap water ? Can we advise that first before developing more PSAs about nutrition, exercise routines, etc.
bradleyjg 5y ago
Why did the US gov lose the war on drugs? Did the this your brain on drugs commercial series use the wrong ad agency?
- nradov 5y ago
  The war on drugs was never about drugs per se, and winning was never the goal. It was always primarily a political tool to marginalize certain communities and minority groups.
  - bradleyjg 5y ago
    Why did my 99% white, upper middle class school district have a DARE program? How did that serve to advance the cause of marginalizing minority groups?
    - cjbgkagh 5y ago
      Interesting logic; maybe they didn’t want to marginalize the non minorities.... Also, it makes sense to publicly do one thing and privately do another. DARE campaign was Reagan era, when they were importing cocaine by the plane load.
    - reaperducer 5y ago
      How did that serve to advance the cause of marginalizing minority groups? Don't bother pointing out facts or using logic. Any time someone mentions drugs on HN, the usual group of addicts-in-denial show up parroting the same tired and disproven talking points that High Times magazine has been flogging for the last 40 years.
    - ohyeshedid 5y ago
      Indoctrination.
      - bradleyjg 5y ago
        Well, exactly. They tried to indoctrinate kids not to take drugs and it failed miserably. So the claim that it’s super easy for the government to shift culture seems wrong, no?

petra 5y ago

Some parts of culture are easier to create than others. But losing weight? Endless amounts of effort is already spent towards this goal, it is deeply embedded in our culture(for ex. Fat shaming). I don't some large ad campaign would change that much.

cjbgkagh 5y ago
I think there is a rather powerful fat acceptance movement paid for by food lobbyists. Being fat is only socially unacceptable among my upper class friends, I think the middle class has leaned into it. I think being able to have healthcare discriminate based on smoking has been hugely impactful in cutting US smoking rates, I think the same should be done for being overweight.
- acchow 5y ago
  They've flipped "fat shaming" into "fat pride", which is the latest territory of "wokeness"
- dragonwriter 5y ago
  > I think there is a rather powerful fat acceptance movement paid for by food lobbyists. Fat anxiety is driven by food industry propagandists (more marketers than lobbyists.) Most weight-loss companies are basically high-priced subscription food services with add-on food marketing and a hook that gets people to pay for that as a service. While they've become a big enough business too often be standalone, it's not telling that Weight Watches spent a couple decades as a subsidiary of HJ Heinz. > I think being able to have healthcare discriminate based on smoking has been hugely impactful in cutting US smoking rates Health insurance was never prevented from discriminating on that basis, even while smoking rates went through the roof. There's plenty of policies for which there is evidence of utility in cutting smoking rates, health insurance price discrimination isn't one of them.
  - cjbgkagh 5y ago
    That’s a fair point, they can already discriminate. I think the insurance plans being tied to jobs led to non-smoking workplaces, and a non smoking workforce, so I think it put employment options for smokers at risk. I think the stats may have been tied to if employers could discriminate based on weight. I forgot the name of the study but I was compelled by the evidence when I saw it. It did speak to my biases so I’ve left the door open to being wrong.
acchow 5y ago
> But losing weight? Endless amounts of effort is already spent towards this goal The government can educate on and encourage healthy eating and fitness. The goal is not weight loss. Weight loss is just a side effect.

sometimeshuman 5y ago

The ad was written in my early childhood. "Can you pinch an inch ?", was the tag-line in a Kellogg's commercial decades ago. In part thanks to that advert, my entire life whenever I can pinch an inch I simply stop drinking my calories. Admittedly it is harder to eat healthy when you are time constrained and poor. But could there be anything faster and cheaper than pouring a glass of filtered tap water ? Can we advise that first before developing more PSAs about nutrition, exercise routines, etc.

bradleyjg 5y ago

Why did the US gov lose the war on drugs? Did the this your brain on drugs commercial series use the wrong ad agency?

nradov 5y ago
The war on drugs was never about drugs per se, and winning was never the goal. It was always primarily a political tool to marginalize certain communities and minority groups.
- bradleyjg 5y ago
  Why did my 99% white, upper middle class school district have a DARE program? How did that serve to advance the cause of marginalizing minority groups?
  - cjbgkagh 5y ago
    Interesting logic; maybe they didn’t want to marginalize the non minorities.... Also, it makes sense to publicly do one thing and privately do another. DARE campaign was Reagan era, when they were importing cocaine by the plane load.
  - reaperducer 5y ago
    How did that serve to advance the cause of marginalizing minority groups? Don't bother pointing out facts or using logic. Any time someone mentions drugs on HN, the usual group of addicts-in-denial show up parroting the same tired and disproven talking points that High Times magazine has been flogging for the last 40 years.
  - ohyeshedid 5y ago
    Indoctrination.
    - bradleyjg 5y ago
      Well, exactly. They tried to indoctrinate kids not to take drugs and it failed miserably. So the claim that it’s super easy for the government to shift culture seems wrong, no?