ABSTRACT
This chapter critically examines both the complaints and the research to better understand the relationship between eating, health, and popular culture. More centrally, it considers why popular culture once again finds itself in the center of focus and what structural causes the people overlook in the meantime. Poverty, the continued objectification of women, and lack of access to quality health care seem less important when the more exciting explanations of television, advertising, video games, and fashion command our attention and interest. Just as critics blame television and other forms of popular culture for weight gain, they also blame celebrities, magazines, websites, the fashion industry, and even Facebook for contributing to eating disorders. While the people are busy worrying about what's advertised on television or how thin models and celebrities are, America's health care system is in a state of emergency.
