{"id":157,"date":"2009-09-01T12:43:06","date_gmt":"2009-09-01T12:43:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/everydayethics\/2009\/09\/do-we-need-to-be-shocked-or-grossed-out-of-our-sugar-habit.html"},"modified":"2009-09-01T12:43:06","modified_gmt":"2009-09-01T12:43:06","slug":"do-we-need-to-be-shocked-or-grossed-out-of-our-sugar-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/everydayethics\/2009\/09\/do-we-need-to-be-shocked-or-grossed-out-of-our-sugar-habit.html","title":{"rendered":"Do We Need To Be Shocked (Or Grossed) Out Of Our Sugar Habit?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Public health announcements: they make me vastly uneasy. And none more so than the new NYC anti-soda campaign<\/a>, which actually just makes me vastly queasy:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\"Sugar<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Do we really<\/i> need some in-your-face ad agency terrifying us with PSAs \u00e0 la<\/span><\/span> the text-messaging teenagers car crash video<\/a> that was burning up the internet last week?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Personally, I think ads like these are sort of insulting to our intelligence. Does anyone honestly not<\/i> know that soda is highly calorific by now?<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
“But Hillary,” you say. “Obesity is a national epidemic. And smoking is killing us by the millions. We need shrill shock advertising to drive that message home. We’re saving lives here, woman! What’s a little nausea compared to that?”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Hm. My gut reaction to this gut-twisting image is that I’m not keen on it – mostly because it seems like a manipulation of our baser emotions to get us to change our “bad” habits through shock and awe. I believe we ought to be resolving to make health changes from a more reasoned part of our brains – getting our whole<\/i> selves on board, as it were, and it offends me when people try to “get” me to change my lifestyle using such base tactics. Maybe if they could show me some hard stats that proved these scare tactics were highly effective (and the jury is definitely still out on that) I’d have a change of heart.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
What do you think? Are these ads doing a public service, or just turning the public’s stomach?<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n

<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
Subscribe to receive updates from Everyday Ethics or follow us on Twitter<\/a>!<\/strong> <\/span><\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public health announcements: they make me vastly uneasy. And none more so than the new NYC anti-soda campaign, which actually just makes me vastly queasy: Do we really need some in-your-face ad agency terrifying us with PSAs \u00e0 la the text-messaging teenagers car crash video that was burning up the internet last week? 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She attended St. John's College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where she studied classics and philosophy, and then respectfully declined to spend the rest of her life in an ivory tower. Instead, she turned to the life of a writer and editor, penning three romance novels published by St. Martin's Press and contributing features to such periodicals as Cosmopolitan magazine. Her fascination with the moral dilemmas that crop up in everyday life--and the many intriguing ways people handle them--has always colored her writings. Now, that interest is leading her to take the discussion online; where, hopefully, the addition of reader feedback will bring these quotidian quandaries--and their potential solutions--vibrantly to life. When she's not plumbing the ethical mysteries of humanity, her passions include cooking (especially baking), origami, kittens, reading, watching really bad television and playing online scrabble. 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