Thursday, February 28, 2008
Mars Bars and Nausea
It is surprising that the Mars bar is once again to be advertised as a foodstuff that helps you 'work, rest and play'. My own experience of Mars bars is that they help me do none of these things. They do, however, make me feel nauseous and rather tired. In fact, come to think of it, I can't imagine ever eating one again. But a Mars bar contains a large number of calories - 452 per 100 grams, so, I suppose, it could be argued to be of some assistance in the working, resting and playing departments. But the same weight of pure sugar would have the same effect. And, anyway, in my case, nausea is likely to intrude upon work and play if not rest. So shouldn't this ad be referred to the appropriate authorities?
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Despite the law most adverts are lies. 'Helps you work, rest and play' - really? How, exactly, does consuming 500 odd calories worth of sugary gunk help you rest?
ReplyDeleteOne effect of this, since we are surrounded by adverts, is that we are surrounded by lies; lies that we don't question (of course), we just assume that virtually any notice will be a lie of some sort. That in itself is, i suspect, doing odd things to people's brains.
I have only ever heard one person wax lyrical about the benefits of Mars Bar consumption and he had just successfully completed SAS selection. He was equally complimentary about Nurofen.
ReplyDeleteI think, elberry, if you keep up the daily regime your activity options become ever more limited - rest and then, inevitably, rest in peace.
ReplyDeleteI think they should be forced to include in the strapline, Product of Slough.
And I see Mr. T is promoting Marathon, sorry, Snickers. Bloody hell, who can remember him being an icon of cool and still be buying Snickers?! What's going on? Life on mars, of course.
ReplyDeleteSnickers you say, Ian... I'm sure you'll be fascinated to know that the bar the Americans used to call the Mars Bar is now known as a Snickers Almond Bar (think almond-based Topic), while the bar we know as the Mars bar was for years known in the US as the Milky Way. The British Milky Way, I need hardly point out, is a very different kettle of fish. I' ve never been near any of these bars in years, yet they're strangely impossible to dislodge from the psyche...
ReplyDeleteI can't eat a whole candy bar nor a whole McDonald's hamburger anymore without feeling sick. The blast of calories and fat is too much. No wonder Diabetes 2 is rampant in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the Flakes made in Slough certainly lift me from the Despond. I'm going to Europe next month and can't wait to buy a big yellow cannister of them in the Duty Free shop!
I find if you eat a Mars Bar just after lunch, accompanied by, say, a full fat coke, you can have a very productive 30 minutes before your sugar levels crash and you are admitted to A+E (or, at least, the sofa).
ReplyDeleteI have tried referring dodgy adverts to the ASA largely over dubious statistical claims (eg 97% of women preferred ... sample size 3) but response muted to say the least (you are the only person to have complained so far so obviously it's all in your head - don't bother us). Direct action is required but apart from not eating Mars Bars, I don't know what that is.
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