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MTV

I Creeped Rashida on MTV, But I Ain’t Following Her

It’s one thing to upload only the photos that showcase your most attractive features or selectively tweet links related to your industry, but it’s quite another to publicly over-share the minutiae of your daily life. Too few social media users consciously filter the information they post online – a pattern which MTV Canada’s producers are capitalizing on to capture viewers’ attention in the network’s latest show, Creeps.

MTV used their ever so popular Jersey Shore as the lead-in for Creeps’ series premiere on January 5. Creeps proves that Canadian broadcasters indeed have a knack for creating engaging, interesting and timely original content, as it revolves around the over-sharing trend that we are all too familiar with in 2012.

Each episode examines young Canadians’ social media profiles and introduces viewers to Facebook-aholics and Twitter junkies. For example, in the first episode, we met Rashida James (@thatsSOrara) who has 300+ Twitter followers. In a recent tweet, she admitted she “doesn’t know 90% of the people” appearing in her news feed.

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January 10, 2012 by

Weight Discrimination is Something to Size Up

In preparation for my presentation at Western’s ‘Flaunting It’ conference next Friday, I revisited a paper I wrote last year about weight discrimination. My research focuses on how this affects hiring practices and employment, but it certainly affects overweight people on a larger scale.

In some developing countries, people are starving and malnourished due to poverty, but obesity rates are increasing around the world exponentially. Fortunately, people are taking note of these statistics, such as the producers of MTV’s I Used To Be Fat. The show completed its first season earlier this month after introducing viewers to nine high school graduates who devoted their summer to losing weight. Motivating viewers to meet their weight loss goals is a positive step forward, but it does not change the fact that far too many youth are binge eating, out of shape and lazy.

Before reading Barry Popkin’s The World Is Fat, it never occurred to me that people have developed such a sweet tooth that youth are not only overindulging in soft drinks, but also adding additional sugar. For many overweight people, being weight is not a conscious choice; sometimes it’s merely a matter of genetics. Deliberately sweetening drinks like that is outrageous though. Even after government regulations ensured that all food and beverage packing include nutritional information people are ignoring this data, or at least dismissing it as unimportant. Education is an essential tool to discourage such unhealthy lifestyle choices. This is important for not only nutritionists, doctors, and food manufacturers to reiterate, but also fashion designers and advertisers.

On Tuesday afternoon, I had the privilege of listening to the inspirational entrepreneur, Ben Barry, who spearheaded the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty, once again. Ben’s tenacity helped him convince Sears Canada to include models in their catalogue that resemble their customers, unlike the twigs who typically posed for their glossy pages. Since then, he continues liaising with fashion and marketing executives to help them sell products to their target demographic by hiring models who customers can identify with. The average soccer mom does not look like a toned size 2 woman with flawless skin and Ben asks advertisers to recognize that and promote their products accordingly.

As someone who started a business at age 14, Ben strongly believes in the potential of youth entrepreneurship and youth’s ability to inspire others and make great changes in the world. With Ben’s message in mind, I have changed my opinion about the MTV reality show because even if those nine kids inspired 100 people to start exercising, that’s better than nothing. Their reunion episode for the season finale allowed the participants to reflect on the show and prove to audiences that they have since created a social network amongst themselves and offer each other ongoing support. This is what people truly need: support, friendship and motivation. Whether this comes in the form of fat acceptance amongst hiring managers who should change their attitudes about candidates’ physical appearances, or clothing manufacturers that should produce high quality clothing that flatters overweight people, everything counts.

Ben Barry, November 2008, Queen’s University

 

March 19, 2011 by

MTV Drops Lauren Conrad’s Reality Show

The fact that MTV has decided not to pick up Lauren Conrad’s documentary reality show about working in the fashion industry because it is supposedly too “high brow” for MTV viewers says a great deal about the network.

After discovering Lauren and her friends during their high school years in Laguna Beach, MTV transformed a blonde girl from California into a Hollywood starlet. Lauren was for The Hills what Carrie Bradshaw was for Sex and the City – the girl that every girl either wants to be or wants as their best friend.

Since her television debut, Lauren has become a role model for millions of youth and inspired fans to pursue their dreams. The Hills co-star Stephanie Pratt shares this sentiment and acknowledged the potential of Lauren’s now cancelled show, adding that she “was really shocked [after hearing the news] and thought it would have been great for kids to watch.”

Without Lauren returning to reality TV as planned, who does MTV want their viewers to emulate instead – Ke$ha? Lindsay Lohan?

In her statement to the press, Lauren reiterates that it’s a shame that MTV doesn’t think their viewers are “savvy enough to appreciate” her show. I suppose that means MTV viewers can expect to see renewals of current MTV reality shows such as Teen Mom and I Used To Be Fat instead, as they don’t require much critical thinking. After all, how savvy must one be to sit on a couch and watch as a fashion designer selects fabrics, makes sketches, or sells dresses?

February 11, 2011 by

Dan Levy is Leaving MTV!

Dan Levy

He just updated his Facebook page to share the news:

“Well friends, after five incredible years, I’ve decided to take my next steps and bid farewell to my amazing MTV family. My time at MTV has changed my life in ways I never imagined. That is due, in large part, to all of your support. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. It’s not goodbye, it’s just a new hello. See you sooner than you may think! In the meantime, we’ll always have fb and twitter to keep us warm!”

January 13, 2011 by

They Used To Be FAT, But Now They’re On MTV

The series premiere of ‘I Used To Be Fat’ overlapped with the end of the holiday season, during which millions of people indulged in delectable home-cooked meals and family dinners. Now that it’s time to shed those extra pounds, MTV is stepping in by making a weekly hour-long weight loss infomercial targeted at youth. Each week, viewers can tune in to watch the transformations of college-bound high school seniors like Gabriella and Marci, who are tired of feeling embarrassed because of their weight.

In the first episode, Gabriella proclaims that she wants to become “fit, fabulous, and fierce” and expresses her determination to revamp her image by snapping her fingers. After showing close-ups of her holding her tummy and upper arm fat, the producers turn to her social drama, wherein she argues with her mother, Arleen, who wants Gabriella to be “perfect”. “I want her to be happy, but thinner”, Arleen says.

While chatting at the kitchen table, Arleen reveals she has treated Gabriella like some sort of science experiment, by leaving out a tray of cookies and tracking how long it takes Gabriella to start snacking on them.

Cue the peppy theme song with the lyrics, “this is a new year, a new beginning”, thus signalling that MTV aspires to inspire viewers to fulfill their resolutions, which are typically abandoned shortly after New Year’s Eve. As per the confessional style common amongst reality shows, Gabriella explains that she told herself in previous years that she’ll finally make big changes in her life, yet failed to follow through on her ambitions. I think her trainer’s best piece of advice was telling Gabriella to stop using the phrase “I messed everything up”.

In the end, when Gabriella steps on the scale for her final weigh-in, she looks much cheerier and satisfied with her now slender figure. Despite its inspirational potential however, it is questionable how the show will make a dramatic difference for the average American teenager. What about viewers who can’t afford their own silly band wearing personal trainer? What if kids with similar snacking habits lose hope because they think Gabriella’s success is mainly attributable to her new motivational sidekick, courtesy of MTV?

Should people know how awful a first grader feels after being called “fatso”? Absolutely, but that doesn’t mean there needs to be an entire TV series about it. The concept of encouraging youth to lead healthier lifestyles is great in theory, but kids are humiliated enough as it is and there’s no need for people to watch them struggle with weight lifting or rock climbing.

If MTV wants youth to bear closer resemblance to pop stars with strict workout regimes than those who frequently supersize their order, they should offer fitness DVDs as giveaways at their shows.

As the World Health Organization revises its guidelines for exercise, with an emphasis on fitness rather than fatness, fat politics remains a culturally significant issue and one that MTV should carefully address in their latest series.

January 12, 2011 by