Sex sells. It’s a fact proven by marketing study after marketing study. Media and entertainment have been becoming more and more sexualized for years.
I don’t watch much TV anymore, and because of this, I do not see commercials very often. But recently, I caught an M&M commercial that was being featured on a major network.
The ad is called ‘Eating in Bed,’ and it features a suspicious husband, Scott, coming home early from work to find his wife in bed with someone else. The scene is very familiar, we’ve all watched episodes of CSI that begin the same way. Except, in this commercial, Scott’s wife is not cheating on him with another man, but rather, with the red M&M. Nearing the end of the commercial, the yellow Peanut M&M comes out of the closet to let us know that Scott is home early from work.
My question is this: How has media glamorized cheating so well that even M&Ms is capitalizing on it?
Name a TV series you’ve binge watched on Netflix that had a big cheating scandal in one or multiple seasons. Can you name two? Three? Now, name one that had no cheating scandals. Can you do it? I can’t.
Nate cheated on Blair with Serena, and Blair cheated on Nate with Chuck all within the very first few episodes of "GG." In "House of Cards," Frank and Claire Underwood seem to have been openly cheating on each other since they met. Caroline sleeps with Klaus while she’s with Tyler on "Vampire Diaries." And let’s not forget "Scandal." I don’t think I even need to elaborate on this, with such a title.
Why is Hollywood glamorizing such a terrible thing? If you’ve ever been cheated on, you know it’s anything but glamorous. It’s cruel. It’s scummy. And it hurts. But entertainment makes cheating into a passionate, scandalous adventure fueled by secrecy and lust.
Cheating is not sexy, it’s not something to brag about, and surely isn’t something that you want to experience. Cheating doesn’t just ruin relationships. Being cheated on hurts, it breaks you to pieces, and ruins your views on love. Yet we see it on our favorite TV shows, and damn, if Serena and Blair can still be BFFs, it must not be that bad, right? Wrong.
Entertainment needs to really show cheating for what it is rather than showing us that it’s some fantasy-worthy act. Just remember: cheaters always get caught, and the truth always comes out.
