I missed Beyonce’s National Anthem performance at President Obama’s 2nd Inauguration today. But I wasn’t the only one who missed it.. on purpose.
Dr. Maya Rockeymoore wrote an illuminating article on Huffington Post explaining why she, too, missed Beyonce’s performance on purpose.
Dr. Maya Rockeymoore wrote:
“You would have to be living in a bubble to have missed the news that Beyonce cut a reported $50 million, multi-year deal with PepsiCo. Although the deal may meet Beyonce’s and Pepsi’s mutually-beneficial marketing needs, it does not serve the best interests of the U.S. public, which is in the midst of working to combat an obesity epidemic.”
Dr. Rockeymoore acknowledges that Beyonce is not your children’s role model. But at the same time, we can’t deny that Beyonce wields great influence over the pliant minds of today’s youth. In a recent interview with GQ magazine, Beyonce said, “I’m more powerful than my mind can digest.”
Dr. Rockeymoore points to studies that show young audiences are very vulnerable to ‘powerful’ public figures like Beyonce. Dr. Rockeymoore says it’s not a stretch to see that “black girls may be especially inclined to purchase and consume a can of Pepsi with Beyonce’s beautiful image emblazoned on the side.”
In her defense, Beyonce probably believes that people can decide for themselves whether to drink soda. However, a study shows that while children were able to tell that advertisers were trying to sell them products by the age of eight, most youth were still unable to discern how advertisements persuaded them to consume junk food products even by the age of twelve; suggesting that young audiences are extremely vulnerable to the lure of celebrity marketing.
This is likely especially true for African-American girls, who have higher rates of overweight and obesity than any other group of youths and a 49 percent risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in their lifetimes. Plagued by body image issues and in desperate search of role models to emulate, black girls may be especially inclined to purchase and consume a can of Pepsi with Beyonce’s beautiful image emblazoned on the side.
More from Sandrarose.com:
