Wednesday, December 30, 2009
The New Year's Resolution News Cycle
With everyone and their mother making health-related New Year's resolutions, the media's gearing up for its once-a-year full-court press on fitness before abandoning the topic for the rest of the year. A perfect example is People Magazine -- the American hausfrau's periodical of choice -- and its "Look Great in 2010" feature. The whole thing is kind of a mixed bag, including an inspirational slideshow of before-and-after shots of formerly-chubby regular folks (including one guy who used P90X to help get himself fit), some common sense workout tips from Hollywood trainers (Do strength training! Schedule your workouts!), and the useless celebrity inanity typical of these publications (Kourtney Kardashian works out naked! Julia Louis-Dreyfus loves bacon!).
I suppose that annually shining a spotlight on exercise and diet is a good thing, but my inner pessimist tells me that by February, most readers of People are going to let their gym memberships lapse and shift their focus back to the type of ice cream cake ingested by some C-list singer/reality show winner.