Solutions on subscription
Stay thirsty. Stay hungry. Stay lacking.
This post discusses eating disorders, diet culture, addiction and weight loss injections.
‘Stay thirsty’. A soft drinks manufacturer in the UK came up with that slogan. I’m not going to say who they are in case they sue me. Okay, fine, it’s Robinsons. I suppose getting a cease and desist letter from Britvic would be something to talk about in my next blog post.
Stay thirsty. I didn’t get it at first. Surely the drink they’re selling should quench my thirst. Surely if I stay thirsty, their drink can’t be very good. But having thought about it — and having worked in the meeeeedia for the last eighteen months — I realise it’s the perfect slogan. Stay thirsty, so you keep drinking our squash. Stay thirsty, and keep buying our product.
Reminds me of… well, everything that’s been advertised to me, ever.
Moving away from Robinsons now — because I really do like their squash and it genuinely does quench my thirst, so miss me with your pitchforks and lawsuits, Britvic — no product on earth can offer a one and done solution. If that were the case, we’d spend our money once and minimise, if not end, the cycle of consumption. And we can’t be having that, can we?
At the heart of every advertising campaign, there’s a solution to a problem, be it thirst or hunger, a craving, a lack of something. An insecurity. Do you feel ugly? No? Well, you should! Buy this face cream. Do you hate your body? Why not? Here’s a weight loss solution. You are set up to fail, but no one tells you that the problem is exaggerated (if not totally fictitious). The products don’t work, not indefinitely, because if they did, you’d stop buying them. It’s that simple.
Now, I’m sure plenty of people will leap at the chance to say, ‘But I use fifteen different retinoid creams and my skin is SUPERIOR, ACTUALLY.’ Or, ‘Ozempic changed my life’, or ‘I hate drinking water (problem) and Robinsons squash makes the experience more pleasant (solution)’.1 Nothing in life has a quick fix. Skincare requires a routine, diets require consistency, and much to my disappointment, hydration must invariably be followed by rehydration. Laundry must be done on repeat, food eaten, dishes cleaned, hair washed, rinsed and repeated. I’m not here to say ‘WOW HERBAL ESSENCES I CAN’T BELIEVE I HAVE TO USE YOUR SHAMPOO MORE THAN ONCE, WHAT A SCAM’. I am going to say that most products, and most industries, rely on temporary solutions to keep the cash rolling in. They work, but only for a limited time. That’s when you go back for more. That’s when, in the case of alcohol, cigarettes and gambling, you get addicted.
Stay thirsty.
Stay hungry.
Stay lacking.
Diet culture needs us feel deprived. It preys on our scarcity mindsets by convincing us we can never have enough. But the thing we can’t get enough of isn’t just food. It’s also absence. Emptiness. Negative space. Here’s an alternative to eating, it says. See you in four weeks.
I don’t have much to say about weight loss injections, except that their ubiquity concerns me. I’m sure they work for the people they were originally made for. I’m sure they are absolute gamechangers in these cases. But some of these medications are readily available without a prescription, without verification, and that’s terrifying.2 They exemplify this idea of the quick fix that never lasts. You must see some results or you’d stop handing over your money. You just can’t have all the results. That’s life. And it is being capitalised on like never before.
There’s a reason it feels so radical to buy physical media and own it forever. There’s a reason tech companies are pushing forced obsolescence. Once, the subscription model was the premium option, the added bonus. Now it’s the norm. Once, you’d pay a recurring fee to use Blockbuster, or have magazines delivered to your door. Now we are encouraged to pay annually, if not monthly, for just about everything. Recipe boxes. Delivery fees. My silly little Substack, begging you to part with your hard-earned cash and become a paid subscriber. (Hey — hate the game, not the player, right?)
Imagine if we treated our bodies like physical media. Something functional we already own. Something that doesn’t need a constant upgrade. I’m not denying that some bodies function differently, some need upgrades in the form of medication or lifestyle changes or (non-cosmetic) surgery. It’s the cashing in on these things that gives me the ick. The sad thing is I don’t see this changing — not when it works so well as a business model, or when every major company is doing the same thing. The alternatives are becoming increasingly hard to access.
There’s a huge difference between selling goods and services, and building those goods and services into a recurring payment plan designed to rinse consumers of their money. Just don’t get any ideas, Britvic. You start a squash subscription and I will stay thirsty.
If you need help
Always seek medical advice in an emergency. In the UK, you can call NHS 111 option 2 for mental health support. Find a list of helplines around the world here.
Weight loss injections are not suitable for anybody with a history of restrictive eating disorders.
More stuff
I write about eating disorders and body image.
Literally me.
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/skinny-jab-scandal-dispatches