Media messages and eating disorders: Taste and price of a message

Abstract

Eating habits have become increasingly irrational in the last century; a variety of eating disorders have appeared. Obesity seems to be impossible to cure. Nowadays, the impact of media-marketing is the most powerful social influence on eating habits. Media has five main messages on eating and the body: 1. “Be thin!” 2. “Consume and eat!” 3. “Be afraid of food!” 4. “Food will disappear!” 5. “You are not feminine / masculine enough!” Most of these messages and directions are inconsistent with each other: e.g. “Buy and eat more, but remain thin!” The double-bind communication of media-marketing is pathogenic and schizoid. Food-related media messages are multi-layered and contradictory on many levels, so it would be more appropriate to talk about a multiple bind. The paper offers new communication strategies in order to manage the chaotic information on eating and to decrease the inconsistencies on the topic.