LA TELEVISIÓN, MEDIADORA ENTRE CONSUMISMO Y OBESIDAD

Abstract

In San Luis Potosi, Mexico, an investigation about the TV as mediator of the obesity phenomenon was performed. This investigation was applied to children between six and thirteen years old, who were studying in elementary schools in the urban zone of the city and who came from medium class families. We applied four techniques of investigation: poll, discussion group, personal interview and content's analysis. These techniques are used in quantitative and qualitative form by communication scientists, the first one (quantitative) to obtain hard data, and the next for getting information which is occult in mental representations and in the speech of individuals. It was proved that the overweight and obesity rate were low in the sample of 484 children. However, a high use of TV was related to a higher consumption of fats and sugar and a higher consumption of "junk food.", proving the consumerism phenomenon. The consumerism, in both of its variants, was widely demonstrated in every single technique applied and visualized as a part of infant culture. In fact, TV is a mediator between the obesity and consumerism, part of a cultural system derived from the neoliberal and global system. Consumerism and obesity are related in an inherent way: any of them could not exist without the other. Children are caught by images and televise discurse which are daily reproduced in their social environment. They are a new generation in which we need to work on, studying and controlling these phenomenon or they may cause terrible consequences in a very near future.