Has anyone seen the new Twix commercial?

The girl in the elevator who gets caught speaking badly about the boss to the bosses daughter- without realizing she's speakiing to the bosses daughter. She then stuffs a Twix bar in her mouth on the way out the elevator.

For me stress eating is a problem, I guess for Twix its something to joke about.

Fri. Jan 13, 12:33pm

wow!

stress eating is now a way to MARKET food? i thought everyone knew it was bad to eat your way through emotions. guess the twix marketers haven't watched enough opera or, for that matter, been living in this CENTURY!

nice observation OP.

Friday, January 13, 2006, 1:19 PM

Marketers are TOTALLY aware that we eat from stress. If you look at most commercials carefully, they're geared to "reward" yourself for a job well done, or choose a high calorie 4-part menu if you're a "cool" person (Applebee's). That's why we associate eating with stress reduction and pleasure. A NYTimes article yesterday talked about people moving here from other countries and not only gaining A LOT of weight, but their children quickly developing diabetes. It is sad that our great country and culture focus on poor eating habits, and emphasize overeating on top of it!
Here's just part of it:

January 12, 2006
Bad Blood
East Meets West, Adding Pounds and Peril
By MARC SANTORA
May Chen is slender and healthy, a lively little girl whose parents left their rural Chinese village just a decade ago in search of a better life. But at age 9, still in pigtails, she is already coming face to face with the forces that many say are making America fat and diabetic.

When May watches cartoons in her family's apartment in Flushing, Queens, the commercials tell her that junk food is good food - the latest message from an industry that spends $10 billion a year marketing to children.

When she strolls down Main Street, she walks a growing gantlet of fast-food restaurants, many of them built with the help of government loans.

At her public school, the city sells sugary Snapple in vending machines to raise money. But it does not pay for a full physical education program, so May's fourth-grade class has gym just once a week, in violation of state law.

And when she and her friends gather for snacks, she basks in their approval as she produces the high-calorie American-style treats, from chips to sweets, that are rapidly replacing traditional foods in the local markets.

Children all over the world are walking the same sort of obstacle course as obesity and Type 2 diabetes increasingly strike the young.

But to spend time with May Chen and the other children of immigrants in Flushing - at home in front of the TV, in the places where they eat and buy food, in their schools - is to appreciate the everyday threat confronting a particularly vulnerable group: the Asian-Americans who make up half the community's population.

It is also to understand what alarms health authorities about the future of New York, a city of immigrants where Asians are the fastest-growing racial group.

Asians, especially those from Far Eastern nations like China, Korea and Japan, are acutely susceptible to Type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease and the subject of this series. They develop it at far lower weights than people of other races, studies show; at any weight, they are 60 percent more likely to get the disease than whites.

And that peril is compounded by recent immigrants' sudden collision with American culture. Many of them left places where factory and field work was strenuous, televisions were rare and advertising was limited. They may speak little English and have poor access to medical care.

Many have never even heard of diabetes, much less the recent scientific studies showing that a Western diet, high in fat and sugar, puts them in danger of getting Type 2 diabetes, which has been linked to obesity and inactivity, as well as to heredity. (Type 1, which comprises only 5 percent to 10 percent of cases, is not associated with behavior, and is believed to stem almost entirely from genetic factors.)

Many recent Chinese immigrants have come from places where food was scarce, and experts say some view fat as a trophy of wealth and status. Their children try to fit into their new country by embracing its foods and its sedentary pastimes.

Link

Friday, January 13, 2006, 3:03 PM

I dunno...

I think food should be a pleasure, but not a glutton-fest. If we are nourishing ourselves with quality food, shouldn't it be something to appreciate?

The French and Italians eat multi-course meals, often with very calorie-dense foods. But they don't eat processed foods, they are far less sedentary than Americans and their portions are a fraction of what is served in the US. There is also far less snacking and normally only one big meal per day.

Friday, January 13, 2006, 8:08 PM

that twix commercial is saying is making fun of the putting your foot in your mouth. Same as the one where a guy tells his gf the pants make her butt look big, she says "what did you say?!??" and he shoves a twix in his mouth. They're jokingly saying you can't put your foot in your mouth if there's already something in it.

Saturday, January 14, 2006, 9:49 PM

wah wah wah

okay - so marketers don't have our best interest at heart - - is this really a shocking revelation?
their job is to make money. it is not their job to be our health counselor.
if i eat a twix bar (or a big mac, or a potato chip, etc...), i am well aware that no one shoved it down my throat. sure, i might have been influenced by a tasty commercial, but isn't that where will power and self-control comes in.
let's stop blaming outside sources for our own weaknesses.
if you can't handle a commercial, turn off the tv

Monday, January 16, 2006, 8:48 AM

will power and self control

I don't know, the longer I spend on this "journey to better health" (about four years now), the more I realize that I CAN'T rely on will-power and self-control. I've lost 55 lbs by wheedling and babying and tricking my inner child into eating healthier and exercising, not punishing and bullying. I know I can't fight my feelings desiring comfort and fun and relaxation and yumminess, so in my "strong" moments I try to prepare better alternatives -- healthy but yummy food in the house, bad stuff gone, signing up for an exercise class that is fun... and actually, yeah, it really helps that I am TV-free.

Monday, January 16, 2006, 12:33 PM

New York Times article

Fascinating, scary, article. Thanks for the cite - very thought provoking.

Monday, January 16, 2006, 12:57 PM

This may be a bit of a side topic, but the thread made me wonder, has anyone read the book "French Women Don't Get Fat"? I don't think that's necessarily true, but the thought behind the book interests me. I haven't read it yet, but what I gathered from the cover is that it promotes the idea of enjoying what you eat and being aware of it.

I find that so many times I am absent minded about my eating. Just mechanically stuffing myself as opposed to savoring flavors. I wonder how changing my mindset about food would affect calorie intake. Just a random thought.

Has anyone tried anything similar?

Monday, January 16, 2006, 3:31 PM

Mindful Eating

I haven't read "French Women Don't Get Fat", but the attitude you describe reminds me of things I learned in a Buddhism class. (I'm not trying to promote a religion, just a mindset.) As I understand it, one of the most important concepts in Buddhism is "mindfullness". It basically means being "in" the moment. So, for example, if you are walking to work, enjoy the things around you, the sun, the snow, the birds, friendly people...don't waste the time worrying about everything you have to do that day, there will be plenty of time for that later. With food, enjoy the food you are eating while you eat it. I allow myself a very small piece of Godiva chocolate every couple of days but I make sure I eat it with no other distractions such as the TV. I focus on the taste of the chocolate with every bite. It makes a small treat much more enjoyable than an entire bag of cookies eaten during a half-hour sitcom.

Monday, January 16, 2006, 3:52 PM

I think about what exactly it is I'm putting into my system- I read the labels of food, and no longer like eating anything processed. The idea of eating take out. fast food, even commercial pizza is enough to make me a little queasy because of all the additivies, preservatives, and other garbage my body wasn't designed to consume.

When you start realising how "junky" most of the food you eat is, and if you value yourself, you desire the junk much less. Doesn't mean I don't occasionally have the odd haggen dazs icecream, but i have the one that's milk, sugar, strawberry, and not much else. Stop thinking of the food simply as calories, but look at what it actually is or isn't. Then it's infinitely easier to make smarter, healthy choices.

Monday, January 16, 2006, 11:47 PM

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