Susan Bordo's stark warning of the American obsession with losing weight and weight control is both disturbing as it is informative. In "Hunger as Ideology", Bordo argues that the bombardment through advertising and social constructs that women must be thin, has negatively impacted American youth into being both unhealthy and overly self-conscious. Her article attempts to break down existing advertisements to deconstruct exactly how the advertising industry attempts to target women.
             Two ads are carefully analyzed within Bordo's work that exemplifies her observations about advertiser's agendas. Even worse, these advertisements exploit women at a very subtle level, to attract through innuendos and subtle application of sex and desire. In one Jell-O advertisement, featuring Bill Cosby, the ad depicts Bill and his son carrying boxes upon boxes of Jell-O. These two male figures are shown radiant and happy. Bordo argues that this advertisement shows both the subversive nature of sexism as well as implicit commands to assuage women's eating desires. She explains that men are typically never shown with food that requires time and effort to prepare, therefore this ad incorporates Bill looking upwards towards a picture of a mother-figure, who gives advice on how to make the Jell-O. The fact that men are in capable of making food themselves, is well represented, and again reinforced by the fact that a matronly figure must be present within the advertisement. It makes Jell-O appear much less of a commercial product and more of a "homemade" phenomenon. This allows women to feel less guilty about eating it, because it exploits their sense that "home cooking" can never be unhealthy. Although I see valid reasoning within her analysis, I believe that such advertisements are much less sinister than she suggests. Although it is true that Jell-O attempts to brand itself here as a "hom...