Did you know that the Dark Side is not the only aspect of the Force that parents should fear? The new movie Revenge of the Sith is luring kids to the Fat Side. Or so say Wannabe-Nanny Groups that pose as Advocates for The People:
"Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith promotes unhealthy eating, according to a review conducted by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC). Sixteen separate food promotions feature twenty-five different products, most of which are devoid of nutrients, filled with empty calories and targeted directly to young children.
"’The quantity of nutritionally deficient Star War’s food being marketed to children is staggering,’ said nutritionist Jane Levine of Kids Can Make a Difference. ‘In the midst of an epidemic of childhood obesity, once again junk food marketers have shown that they have no restraint when it comes to targeting kids. The Star Wars promotions demonstrate why we need restrictions on food marketing to children.’"
Spare me. I didn’t take along a child when my sister and I saw Revenge of the Sith this past weekend (indeed, my sister, who is a mommy, was horrified to see a stroller in the theater in which we watched the film), but I would have had no trouble explaining to a child that he couldn’t have whatever candy-cum-snack he thought he must have based on having seen the movie. And what, exactly, these nanny groups have in mind as their concern puzzles me. They appear to be referring to the food products that have advertising from the movie on them. Sheesh. Just refuse to buy, for pity’s sake! Parents are parents because they are supposed to be able to say "no" to their children when their children would otherwise make unacceptable choices.
You can use Star Wars to help stop childhood obesity. If your children ask for unhealthy snacks, just tell them that if you let them eat everything they wanted to eat they’d end up looking like Jabba the Hutt!
My nine- and six-year-old boys and all their friends have been having lightsaber duels outside since the movie promotions began — great exercise!
It’s not just the star wars promotions. Generally the only food advertised to children, with correlations with toys, ect., is in relation to food that is all sugar, cholesterol, or fat.
So why do companies focus SO HEAVILY on connecting food lacking nutrition with these child-entertainment tie in?
Because it works.
Our body psychologically rewards us for eating sugar and fat with the pleasure that “this is good”. This has roots deep in the majority of evolutionary history, 99%, when such high energy items were rarer. This does not correspond to the plentiful availability of these items in this time. So Burger King exploits this.
Then they top off this with the “giving of a gift”, to intensify the connections between a pleasurable experience, ie. eating crap, and receiving a gift with “going to Burger King”. It creates in the end, due to a conditioning of “pleasure” memories, lifetime customers.
Sure there may be a parent who says no, you can’t have the Darth Vader pop tarts or Burger King Darth Vader meal ect., but this is the exception rather than the rule.
I think a person could write a book on the psychological manipulation of inherent human behavior, human genetic disposition, human gender differences, AND human evolutionary psychology that these commercials exploit. Throw in the basic routine of “classical conditioning” to the study.
Advertising companies have the “science” of human weakness literally down to a science. This is no joke, even down to the colors that subconsciously “stimlutate hunger”, ie. red, green, and yellow. Check out your food boxes and advertisements to see how closely this corresponds.
This isn’t “conspiracy talk”. They really do study this stuff as a science, just like a casino studies scientifically what colors are more likely to keep you in the casino and gambling. There are people out there “doing science” on how to manipulate you, without you being aware of it, using your already preexisting hardware of physiology and psychology.
BTW, have you seen any “Star Wars” carrots or radishes?
Whom shall we sue next? La-Z-Boy? How about the cable companies (TV is unhealthy)? Hostess?
Let’s do this thing right!
But say the Star-Wars marketing people all had a sudden conversion to healthy food: how would they market healthy food with Star Wars logos to kids? Fresh vegetables don’t usually come in snack-sized packets, and can’t be molded into cute shapes. I suppose they could put it on a milk carton or something… it just seems like there is not as much leeway with healthy food because there is not as much processing of it.
However, I do agree that they make a science of advertising junk food and maniuplating the consumer. You do have a good point there.
The healthy food companies are just as much at fault as anyone for this marketing “problem”. Sure, Lucas and friends probably approached a few junk food companies to guage their interest in Star Wars tie-ins. But I would guess many MORE companies approached Lucas.
Do you think Special K contacted Lucasarts hoping for Vaderberry Crunch? And forget about all the local vegetable growing/packing/selling businesses whose products populate markets everywhere but in big cities or suburbs. They have no ability to compete with huge corporations, which aren’t very interested in REAL health foods.
Carrot and corn sellers know their stuff markets not to kids, but to parents. The know (or believe, anyway) that Star Wars does the same thing.
There simply isn’t a perceived viable market for slapping Yoda on a baggie of artichokes. Or Snapple. Or Evian. Since the two markets seem so different, it would probably be a waste of money for whoever is paying out.
It’s pretty hard to put a picture of Boba Fette on the side of a bannana.
I saw a Wookie on a Raisin Bran box. And it said it had “Jedi mind tricks” inside, whatever that could mean. Anyway, Raisin Bran seems reasonably healthy…