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"So That's What You Meant By Dessert!"

Sep 02, 2015

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.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.

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No one best represents the struggle like our favorite 90s squad.

1. When course schedules are released and you have a conflict between two required classes.

2. When there is only one section of a popular course.

3. Receiving the 18,000 emails reminding you to register ASAP.

4. When you need to see an advisor, but they are too busy/unresponsive.

5. Trying not to dress like a bum for your appointments with your advisors/department heads.

6. When you have a perfectly planned out schedule, and one class ruins it.

7. Carefully moving things around to accommodate a different class/section.

8. Waking up at 6:00 a.m. for your enrollment time.

9. Concocting a new schedule at your enrollment time after your original plan gets changed.

10. Getting into a class and filling the last available seat.

11. When all of your classes finally go through.

12. Realizing that you forgot a class that was a pre-requisite for everything else.

When your capability of "adulting" is put to the test

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"Nobody living in one of the most influential nations in the world should be worried about making ends meet."

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What are the benefits of raising the minimum wage?

What are the states that have set a $15/hour minimum wage?

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Because who understands your bitterness better than April?

1. When you have to provide an "interesting fact" for your first day ice-breaker.

2. When your professor is babbling on and on in his lecture.

3. When you edit your friend's paper and they get an A.

4. When it's 2 AM and you remember you have a test tomorrow.

5. When you finish taking the test and you're pretty sure you failed...

6. ...but then you get the test back and somehow passed.

7. When you've been up for 12 hours straight writing a paper.

8. And then you manage to stay awake in class the next day.

9. When you have to butter up your professor for an extra credit opportunity.

10. When you're assigned a group project.

11. And your group-mates are trying to chat about life instead of the assignment.

12. When it's your last class of the day and you're about to go home.

13. But then you remember rent is due tonight and the anger comes back.

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