http://news.independent.co.uk/world...sp?story=503391


Introducing the new slim, healthy Homer (as styled by the fat police)
By Roger Dobson
21 March 2004


Homer Simpson, watch out. The health-nanny tendency, having achieved only partial success in changing the eating habits of three-dimensional people, is now targeting two-dimensional characters.

A team of nutritionists from an American university have made a study of the dietary intake of Homer, Barney and police chief Wiggum and detected that they seem to shift an awful lot of doughnuts and beer.

The researchers, led by Professor Carol Byrd-Bredbenner of Rutgers University, analysed 63 episodes of the show for health-related messages. Their conclusion? "Fats, sweets and alcohol, particularly beer, doughnuts and salty/fatty snacks accounted for 52 per cent of all foods eaten in this programme,'' they say.

"Homer also was portrayed eating food more often (he alone accounted for 21 per cent of all actions showing food being eaten) and ate greater quantities than other characters.'' Overall, they found that 40 per cent of the health messages ran counter to those promoted by health professionals.

But what the researchers - whose work is reported in the Health Education Journal - do not seem to have noticed is that the cartoon show is satire, and that the doughnut-scoffers are, to a man, balding, overweight, drunken losers. Neither do they seem to have noticed that the only multi-millionaire character, Mr Burns, is a non-smoking, hardly-ever-drinking, food minimalist who is as thin as a rake and still running his business at an advanced age.

Nor do they pick up on the fact that the cartoon's only serious smokers, Homer's sisters-in-law, are gravel-voiced harridans whose total failure to snare a man is due in no small part to their unsavoury personal habits.

Nevertheless, Professor Byrd-Bredbenner is worried. She says: "We should be able to weave some good health messages into The Simpsons ... Perhaps we could have more pasta and less doughnuts." Stand by to see nutritionists mocked in an upcoming episode.

Snort!
Maybe they can have Lisa Simpson going low carb and trying to get her dad to join her?

I can just hear homer saying "Ummmmm... bacon" and drooling.

The whole point of Homer is that he's out-of-control about pretty much everything! Sheesh, some people just don't understand complex humour concepts, such as satire and parody, do they?

oh please! it's a flippin cartoon! Do these people have nothing better to do?

This show isn't even a children's show!!!!!

What I'd like to know is how they managed to convince someone to pay them to watch 63 episodes of the Simpsons. I need to talk to those folks about some serious TV research of my own.

I'd do it! I love that show.

IMHO, the makers of the Simpsons are not trying to get people -- even children -- to emulate Homer's behavior. Maybe someone should have pointed out that Archie Bunker was a racist! Or Marie Barone interferes in her children's lives too much!
That's what makes it comedy, guys.

OMG! Is this study even for real? Satire, folks, satire. It's in the dictionary - I promise.

Unfortunately it seems to be real. Other studies done by Dr. Carol Byrd-Bredbenner include
"Effect Of The Nutrition Labeling Education Act (NLEA) On Nutrient Content Claims And Health Claims In Television Advertising"
"Health Related Content in Prime-Time Television Programming"
"Saturday Morning Children’s Television"
"Comparison of the Anthropometric Measurements of Idealized Female Body Images in Media Directed to Men, Women, and Mixed Gender Audiences"

Have you seen the episode where Marge body-builds?

The Simpsons is the finest brand of pop-culture American satire and is targeted at the cynical humorist in all of us.

Superimposed on silliness is usually some sort of innate truth. There is no glamourizing of donuts as a health food, that's for sure!

I can watch hours of The Simpsons... I think Matt Groenig is a genius. The show never gets old and has been running for more than a decade. Kudos to an evening cartoon that has kept fresh and lively for it's primarily grown-up audience.

I wish they would bring back Futerama.

Hear, hear, I LOOOVE the Simpsons. Since I can't see anyone wanting to emulate Homer, his food habits are cautionary.

Though what I wouldn't give to see an episode where Homer eats more pasta...and gains more weight!

Hmmm...let's see - if kids are picking up the message that homer is fat and drunk and always eats donuts, what are they getting from other shows? Barney is fat, blueclue is a talking dog who likes icecream, strawberry shortcake likes to eat cake and lives ina big strawberry, dora the explorer talks to a monkey, max and ruby have no parents....give me a flipping break!!!!!!!!!!! Good lord, our children are not that susceptible to homer simpson, and neither are we...

i have never gone out and gotten drunk and loaded on donuts becuase homer did! The shocking thing is that people are PAID to come up with this garbage!

Granted, I don't think most kids are going to start eating like Homer, but a friend of mine stopped letting her kids watch The Simpsons when her kids starting talking to her like Bart (using a lot of the same phrases).
Kids are influenced by and at times will mimic what they see on TV. I've seen and heard my own kids acting out things that they have seen on TV and using phrases from some of the shows they watch. Most of the time, it's harmless but I do draw the line at mimicing disrespectful attitudes and behavior.

I agree LisaN, but I guess the point I was trying to make was that there is rarely a tv show with the family eating a wholesome nutriious meal, I have yet to really see one, so it is all over, and to pinpoint one show is just silly...and hoenstly it is up to us as parents to deal with it if the kids start to mimic the not so nice things- racheal does the same - her favorite phrase is from dora "oh man"...and yes, I will admit publicly, she learned the phrase "dumbass" from 70's show (bad parent teresa, bad parent! LOL) anyway, when it comes to the food, it is an influence no doubt, but not to the extent that they need to pay people to do research about it LOL, it's our job to decide what the kids eat when they are too small to decide for themselves. If racheal comes through the door with a dozen donuts and drool out her mouth I will know I have been negligent - truth be told though, I do watch the simpsons!