The role food plays on
Tinder may not be massive but it is an ever-present presence. Many large food
corporations use Tinder to advertise their products. An example of this - to
most of us, not a surprising one - is McDonalds. After joining the Tinder
community, there does not one day go by where I flick through potential matches
and do not come across a McDonalds promo profile for their new Create Your
Taste campaign.
http://mumbrella.com.au/maccas-hits-tinder-they-didnt-respond-to-my-message-about-wanting-to-eat-their-filet-o-fish-313389
The fact that even a dating app isn’t safe from the corporate
influence of food companies such as McDonalds is a dark credit to our
food-driven culture. Raj Patel’s Stuffed and Starved investigates the
prominence of this sort of ‘food invasion’ all over the world, noting the prevalence
in Western and Westernized cultures. For instance, he looks at obesity in
teenager in Mexico, and how the incidence of obesity gets higher closer to the
American border (Patel, 2007). This goes to show how much the fast-food civilization
we have become is a part of our cultural identity.
This food identity not only
invades Tinder, but also encompasses it with apps such as Tender. For those of
you plebeians who don’t know, Tender is Tinder - but for food. The app is obviously based around the same swiping concept.
Swipe right for food and recipes you find appealing and swipe left for food and
recipes you don’t find appealing. We could discuss, of course, how there are
millions of people on the planet who don’t even have the luxury of disliking or
liking food due to the fact that they would starve, but for the purposes of
this post we’ll focus on the expression of food culture in Western countries,
and the incorporation of that expression into social media.
So with apps such as
Tender, which mush together our two loves, food and social media, we can
develop a community identity with which we recognize.
Of course with our food-obsessed community we’ll take
things designed for wholly other purposes and turn them into food machines. This
is, as such, an expression of our food identity (Kuttainen, 2015).
References:
Kuttainen, V. (2015) BA1002: Our space:
Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 8: People Networks.
[Powerpoint Slide p.6]. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.jcu.edu.au
Patel, R. (2007). Stuffed and Starved. Melbourne, Australia: Black Inc..
Patel, R. (2007). Stuffed and Starved. Melbourne, Australia: Black Inc..
You comparison between Tinder and Tender is apt, and it really highlights the importance of food in the creation of our personal identities and by extension our culture. As pointed out by Atkins and Bowler, food is central to identity, in some circumstances more important then religion and language. People post pictures of their food that will empower themselves, through eating either 'status' or 'exotic' food types.
ReplyDeleteAtkins, P., & Bowler, I. (2001). Food In Society: Economy, Culture, Geography. New York, USA: Oxford University Press Inc.
I just want to start by saying that I was completely oblivious and can’t believe that ‘Tender’ is an actual thing, thank you for enlightening me, it is going to be the next thing I download! I also find it scary that McDonalds what to take their relationship with everyone to the next level.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everything that you have said but just want to add this in. Within this weeks lecture Victoria also went on to explain how food can be a source of shame, or should I say ‘sauce’ of shame. LOL! The reason that many use tinder could also been seen as something that is shameful which, when McDonalds advertising is added to the mix, there could be many of ways one could end up embarrassed.
Kuttainen, V. (2015) BA1002: Our space: Networks, narratives and the making of place, Lecture 8: People Networks. [Powerpoint Slide p.6]. Retrieved from http://www.learnjcu.jcu.edu.au
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