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The five buck box, it rocks it rocks. For either 1270 or 1380 calories, depending on the decision between the Cheesy Gordita Crunch Box or Volcano Box, according to Taco Bell’s Web site, it had better. All that before adding a 300 calorie 32oz Sprite.
This weekend, America was attacked by fast food advertising during the All-Star Weekend events sponsored by Taco Bell and Sprite. They went after us where it hurts the most: the waistline. In an time of economic hardship in which every penny counts, our eyes can’t help but light up at the mention of more than a full meal (before tax) for less than the price of a Starbucks Venti Caramel Frappuccino (500 calories, $5.13 with tax inside the Dominic’s on Broadway Avenue).
As much of the country, from couches and bars all over, watched the rookies vs. sophomore game, the skills competition and-dare-I-say-boring, slam dunk competition, product placement dominated the television. With the help of Grammy nominated recording artist Drake and a jingle sung by Sir Charles Barkley, the message was sent.
Buy, buy and buy.
After being completely won over by both commercials I joined the chorus of voices undoubtedly singing along and pondered what a great value the five buck box would be with a Sprite and the next time I’d get the opportunity to buy one for myself. “It’s too much food. What a great deal,” I said, which is when I realized that perhaps it is too much food. So I looked into the calorie count online and decided maybe I wasn’t that excited.
So I switched the channel back to the Winter Olympics coverage. “Here” I thought, “these are athletes who live and breathe the spirit of competition.” With such an array of sport requiring incredible discipline and dedication, these people wait four years or more to compete in events where runs last no more than a minute in many events and anything more results in another country standing on the podium listening to their anthem wearing the gold medal.
Sweet Chili Sauce from McDonald’s. Oh my.
Just as I thought I was getting away from the evil indoctrination of fast food, the Olympics had to go and tease me with a new product from the golden arches. Featuring numerous Olympians dunking and dipping away their McNuggets at an imagined McDonald’s inside of the Olympic village, I was immediately jealous.
I want to drench my nuggets in Sweet Chili sauce too. If they can eat fast food and maintain proper body nutrition and shape. I must be able to do so as well.
But for some reason, I do not believe that these athletes eat at McDonald’s as much as I would love to eat there. Sure it’s a free, capitalist country and we can all choose to make our own decisions to eat healthy and exercise, but it just gets harder and harder every year. People struggle to pay bills and take care of themselves and it’s just so easy and cheap to go inside of a welcoming fast-food restaurant and eat because the colors on the wall tell you that you’re hungry.
Product placement has become the most powerful tool of advertising, but doesn’t it feel wrong that they are getting us when we watch the biggest sporting events of the year?
My favorite commercial from the Super Bowl this year came from Anheuser-Busch. Who can forget the house made entirely of Bud Light? How awesome would that be? Or a human bridge created across a ravine to provide safe passage for beer? These commercials are great in their entertainment value, but it’s funny that they run during sporting events where the athletes probably don’t spend their days getting up, grabbing a five buck box with a Sprite followed by dunking a 10-piece chicken nugget meal while relaxing in a house made of beer. When do they find time to practice?
Sure, these are just ploys to sell products, but it’s funny that they run when we are at our weakest, sitting on the couch with clearly nothing to do except purchase more products that will only hinder us from participating in the same events we watch on TV.
In a study released in January in the Journal of the American Medical Association, data shows that 32.2 percent of Americans are obese. That means roughly one in every three people in this country are “extremely fat; grossly overweight” as Dictionary.com puts it.
How crazy is that?
Considering that, according to the Nielson, more than 106.5 million viewers watched Super Bowl XLIV?
According to the U.S. Census population clock on their Web site, as it continually ticks higher, the U.S. population is at a stunning 308,690,117 people as of 11 a.m. Feb. 15.
And if the numbers according to the study in the JAMA are correct, and slightly less than one in three people are obese, that would mean the number of obese people in the United Sates is roughly comparable to the number that tuned into the Super Bowl .
It seems awful and wrong that fast food advertising and sponsorship dominates major events, and we can’t get away from it.
Even as we watch athletes who work to maintain healthy lifestyles, we drift further away from them as we succumb to the psychologically tested and approved content.
It’s hypocritical of athletes and organizations to participate in these advertising campaigns. During the biggest events of the year they condone products that they themselves would never eat. In doing so they send the message, “eat this, because you’ll never be like me.”
I guess in the end, there really isn’t anything we can do. We can only stave off for so long before we start to wear true bumper stickers for these companies in the form of double chins and “ba-donk-a-donks.” We are the ultimate commercial. We walk around wearing our prizes from inside of branded paper bags, and we do it our whole lives.
Just something to think about the next time you’re asked, “Would you like fries with that?”
No thanks.
Matt Wilhalme is a sports editor
mwilhalme@luc.edu
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