Blowing Smoke

AUSTRALIA'S advertising industry is facing a comprehensive and unprecedented push to ban unhealthy food and alcohol advertising, from the eight inquiries kicked off in the 18 months since the Federal Government was elected.

If fast food and alcohol advertising makes us obese binge-drinkers, then why haven't we evidence of this 'epidemic' earlier when cigarettes, alcohol and fast food advertising was allowed open slather?

Surely advertising alone can't be to blame - what about the increase in sedentary leisure pursuits and occupations? What about general overeating as a result of an abundant supply of relatively cheap food?

What about the breakdown of social mores that encourage overindulgence in just about anything and everything?

Hence an interesting side topic on the reason why there appears to be so many unhappy relationships, may have a direct corollary to the issues of obesity and binge drinking and their attendant health and social problems:

Researchers have found an increasing number of clinical narcissists in our society:

According to researchers, there’s a groundswell of narcissism in our society. In a new book, The Narcissism Epidemic, psychology professors W. Keith Campbell and Jean Twenge chart the dramatic rise in the number of Americans who have a clinical narcissist personality disorder. These are people who are more than just a little bit self-regarding. In a nationally representative sample of 35,000 Americans, one out of 16 respondents registered as a narcissist on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. These are people who agreed with statements like: “If I ruled the world it would be a much better place,” or, “I will never be satisfied until I get all that I deserve,” and, “I find it easy to manipulate people.”

So, what's wrong with 6% of the population being narcissists?

Narcissism functions on a continuum, which means that because more people register on the extreme end of the spectrum, there’s a surge of people in the general population—in the median area—that are displaying narcissistic traits.

If this is equally true of Australians, then wouldn't we as a society be better off treating the disease rather than symptoms?

Did the Flintstones really encourage a generation to take up smoking?



Will putting R-Ratings on films that depict smoking, really address the issue?

Perhaps instead of banning junk food and alcohol advertising, we take a look at the society we're creating and do the hard yards on personal responsibility and thoughtfulness towards others.

After all it's frightening, when as American commentator Dennis Prager noted six years ago:

"Decades of lecturing around America and of speaking with parents on my radio show have led me to an incredible conclusion: More American parents would be upset with their teenage children if they smoked a cigarette than if they cheated on a test...

...When I was a boy, I attended baseball games where most spectators smoked, but none cursed. Today there is no smoking at ballparks, but obscene language is shouted out with impunity. We have traded in opposition to firsthand cursing for opposition to secondhand smoke.

So, ask your children if they think you would be more disappointed in their smoking or their cheating. If your child responds "smoking," you are morally failing your child. If you are pleased with that answer, the situation is even worse. If enough Americans prefer that their children cheat than smoke, we are a doomed society. Nor can the issue be avoided by claiming you don't want your child to either smoke or cheat. That just means you can't say that cheating is far worse than smoking. You are another American led to believe that healthy and decent are synonymous.

UPDATE: From B&T Weekly:

"More than a dozen organisations representing Australia’s advertising, marketing and media industry have welcomed a government report on obesity which called for a community response to the obesity issue...

...The report called for better urban design to encourage people to be active and a greater focus on teaching children the importance of healthy eating and exercise, as its main recommendations.

Importantly for these organisations there was no call for any ban on advertising, though there was a recommendation for developing better public health campaigns
about obesity and the benefits of healthy lifestyles."

What does that tell us about our society that we need advertising to tell us something so self-evident?