Week 3!

When I read the first question to ask my host family this week, I immediately thought back on a conversation I had with my Tica mom last week. She said that one of the biggest differences and weirdest things she found about U.S. lifestyle was its pace. We talked about how everything is done so fast that people don’t even have time to sit down and enjoy coffee. Everything is on-the-go.  Reflecting on this thought, I agree that the U.S. is very fast paced. Even just thinking about my own life at Elon, I realize that many times I’m going from class to meeting to class and have a small window of time to quickly grab food. We, especially Elon students have so much to do that at times it forces us to live by an “on the go” lifestyle. I think for many Ticans that fast pace is hard to understand because like anything new, it is so different from what they are used to. Other than some differences with regards to pace, I think that we have very similar eating habits. Foods that seem taboo to us (eating bugs or certain animals for example) are also taboo to them.

The next question was about what food represents and what it illustrates about the person eating it. What are the interpretations of someone overweight? In the U.S. when you see someone who is overweight, most of the time, the impression given off is that they don’t eat well. They either eat too much, or have an unhealthy diet. Many times we associate fast food with obesity. Here, I get the impression that while being skinny is a good thing, it is not as vital or important to Ticans. In the U.S. everyone wants to be skinny, because Americans have the mindset that being skinny is what makes someone “attractive.” Here people appreciate curves more, and from the perspective of our Tica families, they don’t care as much about being skinny or losing weight. According to one Mom, in Costa Rica there are skinny people and overweight people, just like in the U.S. however here, it is not as big of a deal. It is accepted and while there are impressions of people who are overweight or skinny, they aren’t valued as highly as they are in the states. People aren’t as judgmental about it here. I think that this is a nice view to have, because it’s important to realize there are many different body types and there is no one “right” or “best” one.

 

Billboard (sorry about the rotation)

 

After looking at ads in the newspaper, on TV, and on the street, I notice that advertising here is very similar to the U.S. The primary thing ads focus on is saving money. This billboard advertisement for example, highlights the idea that it is a promotion and that you are getting a great deal on a hamburger, fries and a drink. 

In the newspapers, advertisements for fruit, vegetables and other food highlighted the fact that they were 25% off. People want to get good deals on food that they buy, which is why advertising focuses on that and highlights price cuts in order to convince people to buy the product. I think that this happens in both the U.S. and Costa Rica. Another angle advertising takes is making the product look desirable by pairing it with something else desirable. For example, my family watches Combate, a game show here and during the show the people advertise food and drinks. Game players walk over to a table containing the product, hold the product up and then eat/drink it, showing their approval. All of the game contestants are also very attractive adding another level of desire. This kind of advertising sells status as well as the product because people think that buying the same product these “celebrities” use will give them status. Advertising in the U.S. does the same exact thing. It also relates to what we read about the sexuality in advertising. Based on the target audience for the product, advertising companies pair the product with something appealing to that specific gender. For example, beer commercials usually involve attractive girls to make men buy the beer. As we have read, food is more than just something we eat. It has more meaning, just as we see with advertising and selling the idea of “status.”