Gypsy Creams
Energen
Woman's Realm / 11th March 1967
Starch has been accused of causing weight gain for many years, but there’s not any conclusive evidence for this. As this NHS article says, it’s more likely to be portion sizes that make the difference. The problem with the approach of this ad is the short-termist nature of it, because woman cannot live on Energen alone! My auntie is a perfect case study of someone who periodically dieted by eating virtually nothing but Ryvita (Energen under a different name, really), and then put the weight she lost back on when she came off the diet, because she hadn’t changed the eating habits which put the weight on in the first place. As for the husband who magically loves his wife again because she’s lost a few pounds? Yeah, same old, same old…
Tags: blatant sexism, diets, dodgy advice, Energen, retail
3 Comments
Estelle on 21 December 2010 @ 8pm
It’s like that Slimfast rubbish – you learn nothing about changing your diet, and there’s so much bulking stuff in them that you could happily have quite a filling salad instead for less calories. I’m sure calling them “meal replacements” is a bad idea too, it just would make me think I hadn’t had a meal at all!
Tanya Jones on 22 December 2010 @ 8pm
The emphasis on the ‘sensible dinner’ does seem to suggest that the product itself is nothing but filler, and yes, you would be so used to eating food that you’d end up eating more to replicate the routine. They’ve branched out into ‘snack bars’ recently, which prompts the question: if the shakes meet all your needs, why would you need a snack bar?
Clair on 19 December 2010 @ 10pm
Not really – Energen were more like ceiling tiles than Ryvita, which are actually quite nice. I remember the telly ad with Keith Fordyce – a man less likely to front a slimming ad I cannot imagine…