Teen-Beef Magazine

Hey girls! Got to “keep it real” … “way cool” … “so cute” … a girl’s got to eat lots and lots (and lots) of beef! Cool To Be Real is a thinly “vealed” beef industry propaganda campaign aimed at teenage girls — too many of whom, apparently, are going vegetarian behind the backs of good wage-earning cattlemen. How can a vegetarian be true to herself and keep it real? Fortunately, I think (I hope) that even Teen-Beat readers are savvy enough to see through this. As Matthew put it, “It’s like life imitating the Simpsons.”

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6 Replies to “Teen-Beef Magazine”

  1. hey there,
    Nice site. I’m just looking at random sites on MT. Keep it real haha if girls did that, we’d have even more fat poeple running around.

    Check out my site if you have time. You may find it funny. heheh

  2. Well, I must give it to the site that the health advice is not all bad: eat a variety of food (meat, bagels, yogurt, vegetables, fruit), but don’t overdo it; exercise regularily (one hour per day); drink enough water; sleep enough; don’t fall for fad diets.

    The hidden agenda of the site owners unfortunately leads them to imply that all meats are equally good, but kids could do a lot worse than reading that site (though now I will have to sample some teeny magazines for comparison).

  3. Lars, I think you’re being way too charitable – all the recipes are for beef this and beef that. Almost every page has some subtle implication that you can’t be healthy (or cool) unless you eat beef. Sure there are worse things kids could read, I don’t mean that — but this is just plain creepy!

  4. Maybe – I guess I’m so charitable because it’s an openly stated bias (“Funded by America’s Beef Producers”). If the site were funded by the Tofu producers, nobody would be surprised to find just Tofu recipes there, with the undertone that you need to eat Tofu to be healthy and cool.

    No, what I find worthy of criticism is the incomplete nutritional information in the recipes: while they list the total amounts of nutritients, they fail to put them into relation to a kid’s daily requirements – and in particular don’t differentiate between saturated and unsaturated fats.

  5. Well, you’re right that there is a small “Funded by” icon at the bottom, but the ownership is hardly “up front.” Not sure what the tofu analogy you’re making is – tofu is not unhealthy*.

    * I don’t mean to come off all holy here – I’m a huge meat eater — I just feel like this site is disgusting propaganda.

  6. oh this one slipt right pas tme.

    What nudges my beehive about this one is the fact that it really isnt that upfront with the message.

    I’ve been a veggie for a couple of years now and well I wouldn’t go back but I still enjoy cooking food for my peers, whatever teh ingredients are.

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