Weight Loss and Weight Media The media bombards us with advertisements and articles about weight loss supplements. We can't turn on the television or radio without seeing or hearing an ad for Dexatrim, and we can't flip through a magazine without seeing an ad or article about Metabolife. The way different media sources cover weight loss supplements greatly influences the public's perception of these products. This essay will examine a Newsweek article titled "Mad about Metabolife", an advertisement for Mademoiselle's Hydroxycut, and a radio advertisement for Carbolife Gold to illustrate how the media presents the use of dietary supplements to promote weight loss. exercise for an hour and a half five days a week and see no signs of weight loss, or take a pill once a day and start seeing dramatic weight loss within the first week? If you are like most people who want to lose weight, you want to lose weight as quickly and easily as possible and will therefore choose the latter. Advertisers and columnists are aware of people's desire to lose weight quickly and, indeed, all three media sources examined begin their advertisement or article by describing how weight loss supplements promote quick and easy weight loss. In big, bold letters at the top of the Hydroxycut ad is a quote that says: “Losing 31 pounds was so easy with Hydroxycut!” » (MuscleTech, 2001, p. 175). Then, in slightly smaller letters, the testimonial continues with: "I never imagined I could lose 31 pounds so easily, but Hydroxycut did it" (MuscleTech, 2001, p. 175). Similarly, the radio advertisement for Carbolife Gold begins...... middle of paper...... its hand is selling knowledge about weight loss supplements. The article provides the public with information about weight loss supplements that advertisers try to hide. This is because the advertisements and the magazine article attempt to sell the public opposing information, and in this sense the advertisement and the article are two sides of the same coin. However, the greater preponderance of advertisements for weight loss supplements compared to media sources that address the risks of these supplements tips the scales in favor of supplement manufacturers, and such uneven odds can be dangerous for consumers. Works Cited Carbolife Gold (2001, October 7).KRTI 106.7.Cowley, F., Reno, J. and Underwood, A. (1999, October 4). Crazy about Metabolife. Newsweek, 52-53. MuscleTech R&D. (October 2001). Hydroxycut. Miss, 175.