VENT: 'Extra' Gum Commercial

Anyone else seen the new commercial for Extra gum?  Ooh, every time I see it I want to shoot the TV!

This girl is in the mall, sees some fresh bakery cookies and thinks, "What is that smell? I've got to have one!"  Then *cha-ching*, she whips out her little pack of 'Extra' gum and proclaims, "No, I don't!"  She then inserts a piece into her mouth, thinking, "You're so good, you!"

And the worst part?  The finishing line of the commercial:  "Extra, lasts longer than your wavering willpower."

Gaahhhhh, even the gum industry tries to play off a dieting approach!  In this little 30 second commercial, they use a "good food/ bad food" mentality, and insinuate that eating is due to a lack of willpower!  No, it's called being hungry, which I dare say is normal and necessary if you plan on living.

Diets don't fail because people have a lack of willpower, diets fail because diets don't work.  Restriction doesn't work!  Maybe it does short term, but it will come back to bite you!  Your metabolism will slow down, . . . Ok, I'm gonna stop now, you've heard it all before.  When your body is hungry, feed it.

I agree that the commercial is a load o' crapola.

However, they're pretty smart if you think about it.  Look how many people on this site are obsessed with calorie restriction and not eating... all potential customers. Their advertising techniques are targeting those of us, and it will work.  I know I am already a victim of the gum method, just not Extra.

They used to have a commercial that idealized gum as a great 5-calorie snack.

Gum is NOT a snack. I consider it to be a plesant way to freshen my mouth after a meal or a REAL snack (like an veggies with hummus and cottage cheese), but it is not a snack in itself.

>.< I hate commercials like this.  Do you know where I could find a link to watch it?  I'm just curious to see it for myself...

uuuuuuuugh, yes i saw this, and it bothered me soo much! i'm able to fast-forward through commercials, but sometimes i stop if i see something good. so i stopped when i saw the cookies, sort of to make a mental note of something that looked yummy to try as a fear food, and then i saw that!!! omg! i second the shooting of the tv. how stupid. plus commercial actresses are already really skinny because they want to sell their product, so it makes it seem like skinny people need to diet. not true!!!!

Oh, yes...the first couple of times I saw the commercial I thought "How dumb! like most people are going to choose gum over a hot gooey cinammon roll or warm moist cookie!" It just didn't seem very realistic to me. Imo, gum is an after meal breath freshener or a way to keep your mouth busy, lol.

And like blueberrylips said, most "diet" commercials have people who are either slender or average size promoting the product. WTF? Makes no sense.

I'm sorry, but if I'm hungry and I wanted the cookie I would not whip out some gum and forget it..I would be buying that damn cookie. Or if I did try the gum approach I would probably just spit it out in about a minute and just get the cookie. LMAO! I won't lie.

Best way to avoid it? Eat a good meal, and walk the hell away from the danger zone area to something more appropriate. :P

stayinthenight: Well it doesn't have to work, not if you know better and you refuse to listen to that 'load o' crap'.  Am I right?  It's hard to be a 'victim' to something when you see through the bull of it.  Nobody's forcing the piece of gum into your mouth (I hope!)

charmander: Ditto to everything you said!

ijiwaru: Nope, sorry I don't have a link.  But if anyone else finds one and wants to post it, go for it!

blueberrylips:  Agreed!  And good point - "commercial actresses are already really skinny. . .makes it seem like skinny people need to diet".  SO not true!

hotrebecca:  Crazy that people actually fall for that stuff, huh?!

Original Post by silentdeadlyrose:

Best way to avoid it? Eat a good meal, and walk the hell away from the danger zone area to something more appropriate. :P

 Ok, I'm sorry, I tried to let this one go. . .can't do it.

WHY WHY WHY should we "avoid" it?  What's so dreadful about a cookie?!  "Danger zone", are you serious?  For real, are you trying to make a joke here?  Because you are just reinforcing what my original post was all about!

What is "INAPPROPRIATE" about a cookie?!  (*Breathe Bethany, breathe*)  Ok, I accept the fact that I cannot, singlehandedly, change the warped mindsets of all mankind.

I do give you kudos for the fact that you said you yourself would eat the cookie.  But honey, don't even waste a moment of your precious life on the 'gum approach', please?

I think the idea here is the cookie could contain upwards of 300 calories (probably more like 500 cals for a mall cookie), and could potentially put you way over your calorie budget for the day. Of course treats are not bad, I have treats everyday but if you unexpectedly see and decide to eat a high calorie treat you weren't expecting that can ruin your hard work for the day.

There is nothing wrong with the *cookie* or with a piece of *gum.* However, when I say avoid it and find a better meal I mean one that is more nourishing to the body and wont leave you with a sugar crash. Cookies are good every once in awhile, but they won't fill you like a substantial meal will. Eating a cookie instead of say a grilled chicken sandwich, 9 chances out of 10 you will be starving an hour or so later.

Hi Bluide!

How bout a different kind of will power...empowerment!

No more controlled by rules about what to eat, and feeling based off that.

Instead, the power and the control is choosing to give your body what it needs...then with that taken care of, it can give you back everything you really are and have in life!

Now that is power outside pointless chains.

And nowadays, making that choice is what takes courage!
...running to an easy mode of food control is the cop out...hiding from the real stuff, caught up in something that some day, looking back, won't mean anything at all...

what'll your life be about, eh?

Original Post by bluidechic:

Original Post by silentdeadlyrose:

Best way to avoid it? Eat a good meal, and walk the hell away from the danger zone area to something more appropriate. :P

 Ok, I'm sorry, I tried to let this one go. . .can't do it.

WHY WHY WHY should we "avoid" it?  What's so dreadful about a cookie?!  "Danger zone", are you serious?  For real, are you trying to make a joke here?  Because you are just reinforcing what my original post was all about!

What is "INAPPROPRIATE" about a cookie?!  (*Breathe Bethany, breathe*)  Ok, I accept the fact that I cannot, singlehandedly, change the warped mindsets of all mankind.

I do give you kudos for the fact that you said you yourself would eat the cookie.  But honey, don't even waste a moment of your precious life on the 'gum approach', please?

You really overreacted to silentdeadlyrose's post. There is nothing inappropriate about a cookie, but I (and probably silentdeadlyrose) usually try not to consume things that are high in fat, full of sugar (usually high fructose corn syrup), and not even nutritious. Of course I eat cookies every once and a while, but I would much prefer eating a healthy sandwich or salad, etc., over a gooey unhealthy cookie. 

I prefer to get my sugar from fruits and fats from things like avocado and nuts. But that's just me. 

I agree with this

Oh goodness, I have no willpower... no amount of gum is going to change that! Haha

I say, eat the damn cookie if you want to! And go walk the dog afterward, if it makes you feel better...

But gum is NOT a snack. I think we're all going to have to buy new tvs if we keep punching them! ;)

Anyone got a link to the advert? I haven't seen it, but I know and DETEST the type!

I haven't seen this but I am quite shocked. How are they allowed to show something like that?

I think England's quite good about things like that, most adverts for otc diet pills and weight watchers and so on show plus size models. They're not huge but they're certainly not stick figures either.

I chew gum all the time- not usually as a means to prevent indulging in a high-calorie treat.  I totally get everyone's point.  The commercial perpetuates the attitude that everyone is on a diet or should be.  Additionally, according to the commercials, most men have erectile dysfunction, most women need depends, and all of us have genital herpes.

Original Post by charmander_:

They used to have a commercial that idealized gum as a great 5-calorie snack.

Gum is NOT a snack. I consider it to be a plesant way to freshen my mouth after a meal or a REAL snack (like an veggies with hummus and cottage cheese), but it is not a snack in itself.

Its good for boredom eaters.  You're right about nutritional content, but let's not take it too far out of context

I saw the ad too and it was sickening! All this crap about willpower....and then the food industry gets off scot free with all its attractive packaging of HFCS- filled, trans-fat laden junk food and putting it in your face severeal times a day.

Whooooa!  Ok, chill-time peeps!  First of all, I wasn't ticked off or anything when I responded to silentdeadlyrose, so if I offended you (silentrose), then I am sorry. . . Wow. . .I guess you'd have to know me.  I'm what you might call 'over-enthusiastic'.  You know, waving the arms, talking ninety miles an hour, etc.  Perhaps I don't translate well in text form.

lilmissg: Yeeeees;)

the_kats_meow: Ha, tv punching could become an expensive habit, for sure!

meryl: sorry, can't find a link:(

run4eva: LOLOL!  Better pick me up a pack o' depends on my next shop stop!