Listen, for what it's worth Schiavo was a blessing in that it showed exactly how few people the "moral majority" actually are. Bush and Co lost points by getting involved - so learn the lesson well. This is a family affair, not a political issue and part of the problem with both of your parties is the reliance on issues that trample individual concerns in the process of being addressed. If you want to grow into a betterdonkey don't you think the box you're locked in needs to be done away with?

That said...

While I'm elated that a group is deciding to run with the eating disorder issue I am highly concerned that chief reasons behind their cause are not taken to task.

It is a cultural phenomena with negative aspects that has allowed this issue to spread so fast and far reaching into the minds of children. A whopping 2,000,000 - 8,000,000 (i know...wtf?) people in the United States have eating disorders while 700,000 in the UK are afflicted with the mental health issue. There is but one consistency however that can show a root cause of this problem, it is indicated by the spread of the disease in underdeveloped nations. Quite simply, it isn't a significant issue because they don't have nearly as much exposure to marketing through media and are concerned far more frequently about inadequate food supplies.

Taken in conjunction with the 75% higher rate of suicide among our youth, 17% poverty, and 17% of our population obese - I would say there are some serious problems with our nations ability to raise youth. Quite simply, we as individuals nor society are doing a good job. We have allowed far too many bad habits to be created from an industry that cares nothing about the individual but impacts us daily.

The Marketing Firm.

I don't blame the TV, magazines, writers, or artists. I blame the people who are selling goods using methodologies that promote an understanding of normal that is everything but. As individuals we are nothing to the people chosen to market these products but a doorway to the wallet. We are only a hairs breadth from being psychologically forced to buy into this or that. Humans, being a creature with various degrees of individual sensitivity, are reacting.

Using every psychological trick of the trade marketing firms have warped and twisted the average so much that we have no absolute definition of normal. Due to the competition amongst various marketing firms to raise awareness of an idea or product - our nation is in a state where they are not only confused about what is being said but completely forgetting to factor in why it is being said.

Look around you, do you need half the shit you surround yourself with? I think not. Some of it might be amusing or give you comfort, but most of it is bullshit.

How many people do you know who you suspect throw up after a big meal? How many people do you encounter who quote fox, KVI, or Democracy Now?

So why don't we do something about this? There's really only one solution I can think of that will result in rapid change without legislation. I'm sure you all know what it is...but I'll market my idea anyway.

If not for this reason, just for the reason that dependence upon marketing data has stifled innovation in design so much that we are just recycling styles. Such is the limit of clothing, auto design, and digital interfaces. But anyhow, I'm on a tangent...to get at what ails ya:

Stop buying their shit.

Perhaps it's time that we stop purchasing products that are marketed using methodologies that leave portions of our population negatively impacted. Buy from used clothing stores, deal with the extra .03 seconds it takes you to open Firefox instead of buying a marginally better pc, play Atari, spend more time at galleries, find great indie shows, listen to political speakers, study something, make pie, go play tag or dance around the maypole to celebrate community gardens. I don't care - but stop buying their shit for a while and they'll listen.

- in addition -

Maybe it's time to start scrutinizing journalists who read prepackaged news reports or answer to the wishes of bottom line pressure instead of simply telling us what's up.

Perhaps we should begin considering that a style of dress should last longer than a year and that the materials should be good for our bodies and planet.

Going further perhaps we should fight fire with fire and start informing people with irrefutable facts presented using all the wonderful teaching techniques marketers have so willingly given us over the years. Thanks marketers!

Then again this should really be table talk between you and yours, talk about it with family, friends, co-workers. Everyone probably knows someone with an eating disorder. It's a serious mortality issue that faces our youth. Why aren't we talking about something that those afflicted keep secret so well for reasons they have lost control of?

So I guess there isn't just one strategy, there are tons.

But if you buy their shit, you aren't going to change anything. Point blank truth folks, they may be firing the bullet but you are making yourselves targets. All you have to do...

...is stop.

Some links..for giggles:

obesity: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_23825.html

pretty good eating disorder quickie (sexist tho):
http://www.4woman.gov/owh/pub/factsheets/eatingdis.htm

because biology naturally includes photoshop effects:
http://homepage.mac.com/gapodaca/digital/blonde/index.html
http://glennferon.com/

an age old tradition of skewing treatment results for profit:
http://www.jameslindlibrary.org/trial_records/20th_Century/1900_1920/bost_med_surg_j/bost_med_surg_j_article.html

the glass house cracks a bit (src'd for the drunk donkey):
http://www.drunkreport.com/reports/hdtv.htm

addicts can recover:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4432415.stm

i'm not alone in hating the evil marketing firms:
http://www.about-face.org/

I think I was a "Fringe Community Teen":
http://sigchi.org/chi97/proceedings/tutorial/ts.htm

don't just sell the product when you can make a mess too:
http://www.psychotactics.com/artpsycho3.htm

knowing everything about your customer isn't so hot when the data is stolen:
http://www.newstarget.com/004933.html
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/04/13/lexis_nexis_loses_more_data/

I'd post a study about marketing and eating disorders but I don't have the $ to buy you one, so here's a distraction:
http://autism.about.com/cs/autisminprint/a/medicalbias.htm

To be objective, there is truth to the importance of attraction :
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2005-04/uoa-rsp041205.php

Do we really want attraction to be defined by the media we are exposed to instead of something far better - like, and pardon me if I'm mushy here but I am a sucker for romance, the tenor of one's voice and other such complexities of the proverbial heart? There are after all so many important factors in attraction, doesn't it make you just a little sad how much we've focused on attraction? Perhaps most fearfully, population genetics also comes into play. To propagandize a little...marketing, if it does impact our qualifications for selecting a sexual partner, is a form of eugenics. Now that is icky!

I could go on and on about how marketing has hurt our mental health...but there are other issues as well. At what point will marketing research firms be held accountable for gathering and storing private data without being given specific permission to do so (EULA's are a shitty way to let people know). Further will they be held accountable when people steal that data or use it to cause harm?

I think I'll go drink another of the beers named for my town but no longer produced here. It's the water. Pft.