The most depressing thing about this situation is that people actually buy this crap! You would be better off taking the tensing electrodes off your abs and put them on your temples in the hope the electric shock may help you to wake up!!!
But that doesn't happen as the all fashionable media tells you that you need to spend money on your appearance cos ITS NOT GOOD ENOUGH... Complete tosh... Yep - without a market these companies would stop creating all this junk - so that means that they actually make money off the gullible TV viewer.
So we know there is a market - the real question is why aren't health organisations like the Heart Foundation and other such groups that have the sole purpose of promoting a healthy lifestyle tapping into this rich resource? What I would love to see is the same aggressive advertising campaigns promoting walking...
Hi Lydia, what are you here to tell us about today?"
"Well Rob (they're always called Rob?!), I'm here to tell you about a sure fire way to get healthy rock hard abdominal muscles the easy way! Its called walking!!"
"No Way!"
"Yes way Rob! Walking at a brisk pace for 10 or 20 minutes a day will greatly reduce your risk of heart disease and also have you looking great in NO TIME AT ALL!"
"Lydia, that seems too good to be true"
"I know Rob, but wait - there's more!! If you go for a walk today, you'll not only be extending your life expectancy, but we'll let you take a friend and help them live longer too!!!"
Now - walking is easy - odds are you've been doing it longer than you've been using a toilet to poop, its been around since homo became erectus, and it doesn't cost a cent! But I think that may be half the issue. Maybe its too cheap...
For the better part of the last millenia, there has been a strange obsession with money and how if something is cheap/free, it must not be any good. This rationality tied with vanity and it makes sense that people are more happy to put a dollar value on their appearance than actually put in some old fashioned hard work.
You need to spend money to look good - and so if you look good and haven't spend money you haven't gotten your moneys worth?!?
So maybe that's why there is such a strong market out there for Ab machines. They cost money, so they must work! Of course the question isn't about if they work or not, but if you don't have the time to walk - how will you make the time to Abswing?!
People every day pay personal trainers to take them in a group (yes, I realise the irony in that statement) to a park to exercise. Nothing wrong with that - with the exception that you could have alternatively exercised in the same park for free. A quick google will bring up hundreds (if not thousands) of websites that have plenty of information on exercises you can do to get in shape, and they're a free resource also.
Perhaps the local councils should just charge people to walk in parks. Perhaps then more people would take advantage of the facilities which have been available for them and feel as though they're getting their money's worth. But I think the important thing to know is, these machines will not make you have rock hard abs just by buying them. Get out and do some walking, jogging, swimming - they're all free and fun. Once you can see yourself setting time aside each day for the betterment of your health - then by all means buy some equipment to help aid you in your search for a healthier life.
And turn off the God damned TV/computer!! Its why you're so fat in the first place!
P.S. Just kidding... ;^)
P.P.S. Thanks to Ginny for sparking the blog entry off!! Thanks!
You make some good points, like how they try to create their own market by telling us we're not physically good enough.
ReplyDeleteBut re the money issue, I think it also has to do with the time factor. The products tell us that they help us save time and effort. The problem with people these days is they want the benefits of hard work without actually doing any hard work. They want abs without doing sit ups, they want calves without running, so what can they do? Pay for it.