Globally, 1.8 billion people were obese or overweight in 2007, and the number of obese and overweight people now exceeds the amount of those who are underfed, the report said.
"At the same time, companies are capitalizing on the trend toward better health and weight management," the analysts said in the 188-page report titled, "Obesity and Investment Implications."
Nike Inc, General Mills Inc, Danone, Kellogg, supermarket operator Safeway, palm oil manufacturer Kuala Lumpur Kepong, CVS, Under Armour, Lululemon Athletica, Life Time Fitness, and Dick's Sporting Goods are all companies marketing items promoted to help with weight loss (and we all know how successful the use of those items is). Yep, take advantage of consumers scared to death that they're gonna die of TEH FATZ so you can make millions more dollars of profit. If you're a food company, take out sugar and fat, pile on the carbs, and charge us more for it because it's a diet food. Sorry, I'm not buying, I'm smarter than that. If you're selling exercise equipment/clothing, well, I might buy some equipment, if it's something I like to do (like riding my recumbent exercise bike) but exercise hasn't been proved to guarantee weight loss.
The report estimates that revenue related to obesity products in the consumer staples sector, which includes food and beverage companies, will grow 9.3 percent annually on average from 2008-2012, reaching $1.4 trillion.(emphasis mine)
I'm all for companies making a profit, but that kind of growth, with the economic situation a lot of people are in right now is just evil. Especially when they add this little bit of bullshit:
The 15 firms were selected based on the effectiveness of their products in either preventing or treating obesity and its related diseases.
Effectiveness!!!???!?!!? WTF? Where are these assholes living? The only effective thing about any of these products is their advertising ability to scare the shit out of people and push them into buying something, anything that may help them lose weight because said people are so desperate to "fit in" and be "healthy". I don't give a shit what anyone says, NONE of the garbage marketed by any of these companies will make a naturally fat person permanently thin. And if you believe their marketing, I have a bridge for sale.
By contrast, revenue in the healthcare sector related to obesity treatments and preventative care is expected to reach only $73 billion by 2012, averaging 7.1 percent annual growth.(emphasis mine)
Allergan, which manufactures a gastric band involved in gastric-bypass surgery, disease management company Healthways, and Merck and Novo Nordisk, both major manufacturers of diabetes treatments.
You could probably add to the list any pharmaceutical company that is working on any kind of diet pill or that is already marketing any kind of diet pill. And we all know how safe and effective those have proved to be (can we say phen-fen?).
I repeat, NONE of this is about improving the health of fat people. It's all about promoting fear and hysteria so fat people will put their money in the pockets of these greedy corporations who don't give a shit about anything but their bottom line. If they really cared about the health of fat people, they wouldn't rush weight loss drugs to market before finding out exactly what all the side effects really are. If they really cared about the health of fat people, they wouldn't be pushing gastric mutilation with a myriad of horrible complications that are far worse and more fatal than staying fat. This kind of shit just proves to me that the old saying is true: "The love of money is the root of all evil."
You're quite right; none of that is about health. That's just the marketing hook. I wish the media outlets would stop doing their freaking advertising for them by repeating the scares endlessly, by featuring a full week, say of "Childhood Obesity" scare tactics on the FRONT PAGE and so forth. These products sell themselves (and people keep begging for more) thanks to the "news" outlets and their misreporting and fear factors.
ReplyDeleteAnd this new Accomplia thing - why did that get approved? Because unlike Phen-Fen and its heart attacks, when a person commits suicide you can blame it on "They was just crazy anyhow" and snake your way out of letting the drug be blamed? Even though the fucking drug operates by malfunctioning your pleasure centers so you enjoy or like nothing, even food? It's infuriating. It makes you wonder what kind of insane drug they invent next...maybe just cyanide capsules.
Yeah, I'm so sick of being told that fat is deadly, when according to most research, the opposite is true. I'm to the point now where when a news article says anything negative about fat, I don't believe it, not one freaking word of it. It's lies, I tell you, all damned lies (roflol).
ReplyDeleteVesta, I just wanted to thank you. It can begin to feel hopeless to change beliefs, can't it? Even when the information is right there, it is no guarantee anyone will read it or actually see it. I think you know the recent thread I'm talking about. :)
ReplyDeleteI have long believed that most of these companies, especially the food companies, were at least partly to blame for the increase in the weight of Americans. Though I firmly believe that genes play the largest part in body type and size, I can't deny that the "alteration" of food products, along with the massive production of it contributes to added weight as well. Coca Cola used to be made with sugar, not corn syrup, for example. Breads with real flour, not refined and basically non-nutritive flour.
ReplyDeleteAs a newish member of the fat acceptance movement (though I have always held to the belief that everyone deserves to be treated humanely and with dignity, regardless of how they look) I am still struggling with trying to find a weight I can live with that reduces my pain. I know diets don't work. I work out at Curves 50 mins a day 3 days a week, eat sensibly, and still struggle to be a single pound lighter. I have attended weight loss surgery seminars (gastric band) and walk away thinking that it will still be a struggle for me, as it has been my whole life. I guess I am looking for the answer for my particular body/mind. Your website helps me. Period. Thank you for all your insight.
Regina - I wish I had an answer for us. I ride my recumbent bike 3 to 4 times a week for 30 minutes to an hour every time, I eat sensibly (the same way my type 2 diabetic DH eats to control his blood sugar), and I'm not losing anything either. I decided quite a while ago (after my WLS failed) that I was meant to be fat, I was meant to deal with the pain I have, and I have to make the best of it. I don't like it, I wish things were different, but 'if wishes were horses, beggars would ride' and all that. Of course, I've been dealing with the pain for the last 30 years, and my weight has varied from 220 to 397 in that time, and the pain hasn't been any less at my lesser weights. I still managed to go to college, work, and raise my son. Things are a lot easier for me now, I'm married and don't have to work, so can pace myself doing housework and such, and take breaks when I need them. I also have the perspective of age - 30-some years of being fat and still having accomplished quite a few things of which I'm proud and having dealt with everything that life has thrown at me (not always well, but still dealt with it and I'm still here). I've learned that my looks (weight, height, hair color, wrinkles, whatever) don't matter near as much as "society" would like me to think, that who I am as a person is much more important to having a happy life. I've learned what's important to me, and I don't care if it's what "society" thinks is important. "Society" hasn't done much for me, therefore has no right to expect me to live up to its shallow ideals.
ReplyDeleteVesta- Thank you for your words. As usual, insightful and honest. Knowing that you reached the conclusion that you will always be fat helps me. I THOUGHT I had accepted this myself, but I guess I have a ways to go in my thinking. The pain brings forth all the lectures I have received from doctors and family and the media about how if I just lost weight I wouldn't have whatever it is that ails me. The goal for me now is to strengthen my body so that I can endure the pain better. Back surgery scares the heck out of me, so making the best possible life with what I've got is my plan.
ReplyDeleteThank you again for your words. You help me more than you know.
*hugs* Regina