Eric and I don’t have cable. We watch movies through an AppleTV that was generously handed down to us. When I’m on the road; however, I usually pass away my last hour of the night watching TV. I’m constantly amazed at what I see from the reality TV shows, to advertisements, to news reports.

Lately, I can’t help but think that the advertisements and logos we see day in and day out play a huge role in our success or failure in the things we constantly strive to achieve – health and fitness. Does our subconscious brain keep a running tally of the food, clothing, and fitness advertisements we see? And at our weakest moments do those sights come back to affect us?  I believe so.

This weekend I logged the commercials that aired during ONE break from the movie Sahara.

Commercial #1: Dave and Busters

Dave and Busters is a sports bar and game room in one. The TV ad showed people having fun a while cashing in on one of the great food deals offered currently. Each food item displayed was some gluten infested, fried mess, of a not-even-close-to-good-quality meal. Did it look appetizing? Sure, at first sight. I’m human. And the people eating the food sure looked like they were having a good time.

Commercial #2: An MMA Get-in-Shape Video Series

Basically, it was the Wii-Fit type program based around a UFC fighter training environment. Thin folks with somewhat showing abs were displayed doing the workouts while real UFC fighters talked through the benefits of the program. A lone man shown doing the workouts in front of his TV didn’t really inspire me. Who wants to workout on their own in front of a TV? Also, there’s no way in hell that those folks were able to look that good by punching thin air.

Commercial #3: A New Kind of Snickers Bar (really?)

This snickers bar put chocolate in the middle, wrapped it with caramel, and then covered it with peanuts. Basically it was a Snickers bar inside out but they failed to point that out. It was “filled with lasting energy” and while I’m not into caramel or peanuts, it made me want chocolate.

Commercial #4: A New Reality Show (sponsored by Jennifer Lopez) Called Miami Tow

The show tracks the real life stories of folks in Miami that have had their car towed. I’m not sure what to think of it but my first reaction is that our country is screwed.

Commercial #5: A Natural Low-Fat Yogurt

Some thin healthy looking woman gracefully ate yogurt from a container like it was ice cream on a spoon. Ice cream…I don’t like yogurt but ice cream sure sounds good.

So there you have it. Five commercials with varying degrees of impact on my psyche. Did I run out and buy chocolate? No.  Would eating those foods have crossed my mind had I never seen those commercials?  No.

I once read a statistic that teenage girls felt depressed and bad about their self image after reading a magazine like Vogue or Cosmo for just five minutes. I suppose the same principles apply for TV commercials and logos and our CrossFit goals.

So what’s the moral of the story? No, I’m not telling you to kill your TV. I am telling you that the ads and logos you’re exposed to everyday have a direct impact on your success or failure in the health and fitness world.

Does your mouth salivate after seeing pasta or some other food you don’t eat on a regular basis anymore?  Post to comments.