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Think of the Children
Dec. 14th, 2010 10:42 amCorporate promotion likes to disguise itself as magnanimous behaviour. I see it again and again, with big businesses saying something like, for every thingermabob sold, we will donate fifty cents to the save the children foundation. Right now, I'm seeing it on FaceBook with one of the biggest fitness clubs in Canada. They're saying, for every "like" our FB page gets, we'll donate $1 to our own kids' fitness foundation.
Colour me unimpressed.
People have been "liking" these statements in droves. Today, I posted the followup, "Please donate the money, regardless of how many likes you get. FB popularity should have nothing to do with kids' fitness." People are starting to "like" that comment.
I don't think the club will like this, very much.
I think it's interesting that they're touting their own foundation, which is not even disguised as being anything but advertising for the corporation itself. I don't know a lot about finances, but it looks like one great big tax break to me.
I remember having a job interview with this company before. It was very, very odd. I had applied for a position in customer service, and my résumé was filled with my applicable skills and certifications. When I got to the interview, there were two other people there. The interview had absolutely no bearing on our work and education experience, but on how well we towed the corporate line. It was all role-playing scenarios about selling memberships and tanning packages, and we were all taught the official company handshake (which I found automatically suspicious, as it involved sliding your hand up someone's forearm. If a stranger does that to me, I automatically go into martial arts mode).
At one point, I tried to inform my interviewer that since my résumé had been sent in, I had received my first aid certification, but she was not interested in hearing this. That's when it really sunk in that the company wasn't about health and fitness, but about the bottom line.
I don't doubt that when the founder came up with the idea for the company, he genuinely wanted to help improve people's health and fitness, and make a living doing so. But big business is not about philanthropy, but profit margin.
Now, I work out at one of this company's gyms, and am not about to cancel my membership anytime soon. The gym is very conveniently located for me, and has all the equipment I need for my workout (I plan on heading in today to lift weights). Yet I harbour no illusion that the company honestly gives a shit whether or not I go there, as long as they get membership monies. I think that if they truly cared about people's fitness, they would have a weight room attendant on duty who could answer questions about proper lifting technique, and offer assistance as a spotter for people who lift on their own.
As another recent example comes a multilevel marketing scheme I was invited into. This one sells something called "meal replacements" (when I asked why it wasn't just called a meal, they had no real answer). These meal replacements come in powder form, and are easily converted into shakes. They theoretically are far more nutritious than real food like vegetables, meat, grain, grains, or dairy, and are also much cheaper than a full meal made from these items. These shakes also come with a long list of amazing benefits. The product lets you achieve "all your fitness goals," and cures all sorts of health maladies. Miraculous....
Like the fitness centre, this product is also all about the kids. And for every one of a certain package sold, the corporation will provide x number of their meal replacement shakes to poor kids in schools. I'm all for proper nutrition, and making sure kids eat properly. But honestly, I pity anyone who has to eat this shit. It tasted disgusting, like oversweet cake batter with a metallic chemical aftertaste. Even if all the nutritional/fitness promises are true, I'd be a sad, sad camper if I had to eat this stuff every day. Blech!
But let's say someone actually does like the taste of it. Should they really be eating it? I looked at the nutritional breakdown, and each serving of this shake contains 22-25 grams of protein. According to the "fact sheet," this is the ideal amount of protein for muscle growth and fat burning. From what research I've done, 22-25 grams is closer to the appropriate amount of protein for a body builder who weighs about 220-250 lbs. This company recommends two shakes a day, which is twice the suggested protein intake for someone of that size.
Now, I know that there are people out there who do just fine on high-protein diets. But I also believe that their diets tend to be very specific. I believe that any kid who drinks these extremely sweet shakes at school is likely also eating a traditionally crappy North American diet, with pop, chips, packaged sweets, and fatty fried foods. And eating something overly sweet like this every day just acclimatizes the palate for sweet things, making you crave more sweet things (which are cheap and plentiful and overstuffed with empty calories). So, what happens when you have kids eating five to ten times their recommended protein intake every day along with all those nutritionally-vacant foods, and without getting any more exercise than usual? I think you end up with obese and unhealthy kids, who will grow up being obese and unhealthy adults who want a quick fix for their health and fitness levels. Good thing they already know about this awesome shake that will improve their life, eh? And good thing they can get rich selling it to their friends!
Oh, the generosity of corporations....
Colour me unimpressed.
People have been "liking" these statements in droves. Today, I posted the followup, "Please donate the money, regardless of how many likes you get. FB popularity should have nothing to do with kids' fitness." People are starting to "like" that comment.
I don't think the club will like this, very much.
I think it's interesting that they're touting their own foundation, which is not even disguised as being anything but advertising for the corporation itself. I don't know a lot about finances, but it looks like one great big tax break to me.
I remember having a job interview with this company before. It was very, very odd. I had applied for a position in customer service, and my résumé was filled with my applicable skills and certifications. When I got to the interview, there were two other people there. The interview had absolutely no bearing on our work and education experience, but on how well we towed the corporate line. It was all role-playing scenarios about selling memberships and tanning packages, and we were all taught the official company handshake (which I found automatically suspicious, as it involved sliding your hand up someone's forearm. If a stranger does that to me, I automatically go into martial arts mode).
At one point, I tried to inform my interviewer that since my résumé had been sent in, I had received my first aid certification, but she was not interested in hearing this. That's when it really sunk in that the company wasn't about health and fitness, but about the bottom line.
I don't doubt that when the founder came up with the idea for the company, he genuinely wanted to help improve people's health and fitness, and make a living doing so. But big business is not about philanthropy, but profit margin.
Now, I work out at one of this company's gyms, and am not about to cancel my membership anytime soon. The gym is very conveniently located for me, and has all the equipment I need for my workout (I plan on heading in today to lift weights). Yet I harbour no illusion that the company honestly gives a shit whether or not I go there, as long as they get membership monies. I think that if they truly cared about people's fitness, they would have a weight room attendant on duty who could answer questions about proper lifting technique, and offer assistance as a spotter for people who lift on their own.
As another recent example comes a multilevel marketing scheme I was invited into. This one sells something called "meal replacements" (when I asked why it wasn't just called a meal, they had no real answer). These meal replacements come in powder form, and are easily converted into shakes. They theoretically are far more nutritious than real food like vegetables, meat, grain, grains, or dairy, and are also much cheaper than a full meal made from these items. These shakes also come with a long list of amazing benefits. The product lets you achieve "all your fitness goals," and cures all sorts of health maladies. Miraculous....
Like the fitness centre, this product is also all about the kids. And for every one of a certain package sold, the corporation will provide x number of their meal replacement shakes to poor kids in schools. I'm all for proper nutrition, and making sure kids eat properly. But honestly, I pity anyone who has to eat this shit. It tasted disgusting, like oversweet cake batter with a metallic chemical aftertaste. Even if all the nutritional/fitness promises are true, I'd be a sad, sad camper if I had to eat this stuff every day. Blech!
But let's say someone actually does like the taste of it. Should they really be eating it? I looked at the nutritional breakdown, and each serving of this shake contains 22-25 grams of protein. According to the "fact sheet," this is the ideal amount of protein for muscle growth and fat burning. From what research I've done, 22-25 grams is closer to the appropriate amount of protein for a body builder who weighs about 220-250 lbs. This company recommends two shakes a day, which is twice the suggested protein intake for someone of that size.
Now, I know that there are people out there who do just fine on high-protein diets. But I also believe that their diets tend to be very specific. I believe that any kid who drinks these extremely sweet shakes at school is likely also eating a traditionally crappy North American diet, with pop, chips, packaged sweets, and fatty fried foods. And eating something overly sweet like this every day just acclimatizes the palate for sweet things, making you crave more sweet things (which are cheap and plentiful and overstuffed with empty calories). So, what happens when you have kids eating five to ten times their recommended protein intake every day along with all those nutritionally-vacant foods, and without getting any more exercise than usual? I think you end up with obese and unhealthy kids, who will grow up being obese and unhealthy adults who want a quick fix for their health and fitness levels. Good thing they already know about this awesome shake that will improve their life, eh? And good thing they can get rich selling it to their friends!
Oh, the generosity of corporations....
