Old Dogs, New Tricks? An Ideological Analysis of Thematic Shifts in Television Advertising for Diet Products, 1990-2000

Abstract

The diet industry came under fire in the 1980s for making unsubstantiated promises to the millions of Americans who buy diet products and enlist in diet regimens. Instead of telling dieters that their products will help them quickly lose a great deal of weight, these companies now urge Americans to diet in a healthy fashion. They have rejected fad dieting and now preach weight management as the key to maintaining one's health. Along the way, they have started to poke fun at the claims they previously made about the effectiveness of their products. This article applies textual and ideological analysis, layered on a cultural studies framework, to explore this stylistic shift. A textual analysis of commercials for these products reveals that their thematic focus has shifted from rapid weight loss to one or a combination of these themes: (1) that using the product is part of a well-balanced diet and will help the dieter limit fat intake, (2) that the dieter controls the evolution of this new “healthy dieting” lifestyle, and (3) that fad dieting is not part of this lifestyle and is to be rejected.