One study shows that kids think food tastes better when it’s in a McDonald’s wrapper. Another study shows that the weight of average (American) women rose by 20 pounds between 1976 and 2000. Here’s a clip from the second study.
…In 1994 the average woman tipped the scales at 147 pounds but she wanted to weigh only 132 pounds — but less than a decade later the average woman weighed 153 pounds but said her desired weight was 135 pounds…
Marketing alters our taste buds. And our perceptions of what we as humans should look like change accordingly. Heavy stuff, huh?
If any of you out there work at McDonald’s, could you please send me a big stack of (unused) wrappers? I’ve been thinking about selling my patented Millet ‘n Kale Balls at the next Shadow Art Fair, and if these magic wrappers can help a bit with the taste, all the better.
6 Comments
Yes, this may be true, but those sausage and egg mcmuffins are just so damn good!
I’ve managed to ween myself off all fast food with a few glaring acceptions…Wendy’s Frosties, Jimmy John’s subs, and those damn Chicago-Style Hot Dogs at Red Hot Lovers on the UofM campus. I’m moving out of town in an attempt to get off the stuff.
Food tastes even better when there’s a Simpsons kids meal prize inside. Anyone else collecting talking Simpsons figures from Burger King?
Not to quibble, but is it significant (statistically) that women thought they would like to be 3 pounds heavier than the 1994 ideal in the most recent study? There’s much to be frightened about in the study, but I’d argue that people, particularly women, retain the same or similar weight ideals – they just get further from reaching them.
Plus sized kids clothing in McDonalds wrappers? Success!
Obvious questions (that I don’t have the bps at home to answer):
-Granny was 4’10, Grandma was 5’2, momma was 5’4, my wife is 5’7. Does the study include height and bone structure? Maybe we’re just breeding Amazons.
-Everyone knows muscle weighs more than fat. Maybe women today are just more muscular than past decades. (I.e., maybe we’re just breeding Amazons.)
-The baby boomer effect. A great percent of population is now entering the pleasantly plump golden years (where their extra cushion is, as the study mentions, deemed socially acceptable). Does this study factor in the average age of the population?
Either way, is this a bad thing? As I tell my delightfully voluptous wife, “A man likes feel like he’s been some place.”
(I may have crossed a public/private line there.)
All that said, what I really want to say is the thought of Mark Maynard tightly tucked into a Big Mac wrapper is, well, rather mouth-watering.
That study, rings true.