We all know the expression, “You are what you eat”: eat healthy foods and you’ll be healthy, eat unhealthy foods and you’ll be unhealthy. But when it comes to our perceptions of food, specifically what’s healthy and what isn’t, sex differences play a big role. And there’s another expression (one you probably haven’t heard until now) that might be even more accurate: “You eat what you are.”
Advertisers understand the “you-eat-what-you-are” idea quite well and they tailor their messaging accordingly. When was the last time you saw a muscular man in a commercial eating yogurt? And most of the people eating big, thick burgers dripping with bacon and cheese are men. There are a few exceptions, but when a woman eats a burger like that, she’s usually wearing a bikini and eating in a very sexy way in slow motion–an approach that tends to appeal to male viewers.
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