Noom has been advertising all over the news channels, and now the demographic oracles on Facebook have decided I am in need of a diet, and they sent me this Facebook ad:
Noom claims to help you lose weight with a combination of "small bowls and psychology." I looked closely at the image to see what psychological mind games they are playing.
Most of the foods look barely edible - whole wheat bread and greenery - looks like cream cheese, pesto, bell pepper, baby spinach, basil, and some ornamental shrub there in the middle.
But the foods on the left top and bottom are, if I am to believe my eyes:
An open face sandwich of whole wheat topped with unpeeled limes and unpeeled avocados.
An open face sandwich of whole wheat topped with five pickle spears.
Is... is this the psychology? "Next to the whole wheat bread and lawn clippings, that cream cheese and okra looks delectable."
Well, the "It's your choice!" thing when presented with two or three each-totally-unacceptable options is a modern trend in many areas of psychological manipulation including politics (and the outfit selections of small children; it's not all evil), so there is that. But usually those are tweaked so that the one option that the Powers That Be want you to choose is preferable, to you, compared to either of the alternatives, and I do not understand how six mostly-to-entirely-unpalatable-looking open-faced sandwiches would get anyone anywhere, really, unless there's an alternative. (I do very much like dill and cream cheese, but even though I really like dill, that is way, way too much dill.)
Actually, maybe that's the psychology secret: they advertise Noom with abrasive-looking whole wheat bread topped with hedge trimmings for a few days (plus maybe some really unpleasant-looking exercise advertisements thrown in?) and *then* hit you with liposuction/gastric-bypass/etc. ads, or maybe quack fad diet pill ads, once you've decided that it would be just plain *miserable* to try to lose weight via Noom/exercise?
(also: muffler: like, a car part?)
Posted by: KC | February 18, 2019 at 06:25 PM
KC - first, muffler as in warm woolen winter scarf. Also, I remember Mom always gave us the option of vegetables or applesauce (fruits vs vegetables). We always chose applesauce, of course. Are you saying that maybe she wanted us to eat the applesauce all along?
Posted by: TheQueen | February 19, 2019 at 10:31 PM
Ah, okay! I was wondering, but I thought that was an archaic usage of muffler. I've run across it in public domain fiction from the late 1800s, but hadn't run across it elsewhere - but there are many, many places I haven't spent enough time in to pick up the local language nuances, and it might be one of those soda/pop/Coke geography things. Hooray for fuzzy things for husband!
Hm. I hate to suspect your mother of Deep Psychological Games, but... probably yes. :-)
(but unpeeled avocado and limes??? who was in charge of this photoshoot, and do they *eat*?)
Posted by: KC | February 19, 2019 at 10:55 PM
KC - perhaps it is regional or archaic. I recently used the word “brassiere” to some 20 year olds and they had no idea what I meant.
Posted by: TheQueen | February 20, 2019 at 06:49 AM
Glad someone else noticed the stupid advertisement with the unpeeled limes and avocados. I think the bottom left is zucchini slices on top of some kind of brownish spread - maybe a kind of tapenade?? Who knows. In any case my Italian boyfriend hates the pesto one with whole ass basil leaves.
Posted by: Kayla Baker | August 18, 2019 at 06:15 PM
Kayla Baker (Hi Kayla!) - oh, zucchini and tapenade sounds more appetizing than cucumber on bare whole wheat. I’ve been noticing their spots on TV now - normal-weight people saying that they’ve lost weight. I have yet to encounter anyone in real life who has tried Noom, though.
Posted by: TheQueen | August 19, 2019 at 10:27 PM