Celebrity Advertising of Detox Teas

 

        This is an image of various celebrities all posing with some form of detox tea. Each of these photos functioned as advertisements for these teas, advertisements that are placing emphasis on getting rid of impurities in the body. Detoxes are seen as getting rid of the toxics within your body, and flushing out one's system. While no specific food is being targeted as bad by these teas, they represent the idea and fear that consumption has polluted one's body.

        As aforementioned, all of the women in these photos are celebrities. They represent high economic class and social status, often being perceived as unattainable and the top of our social system. Their advertisement of detoxing speaks to the following Douglas quote: "The work performed by each caste carried a symbolic load: it says something about the relatively pure status of the caste in question . . . but the point at which food is prepared for the table is the point at which the interrelation of the purity structure and occupational structure need to be set straight" (Douglas 1966: 157). Douglas is dissecting the relationship between status and purity within consumption. Different occupations have varying levels of purity, and the production of food represents combined efforts of differing purities. In order to expel these impurities and maintain what is necessary for one's status, this food must be prepared or cooked.

    While detox teas are not a form of food preparation, I believe that they represent this attempt to distinguish and reject the impurities gained by food due to the interrelations of production. As stated earlier, celebrities represent a high status within our society, and function as an occupation that carries a pure symbolic load: literally and figuratively, they do not get their hands dirty. While it is unclear if the celebrities in these photos actually consume the detox teas, these photos work as a symbol of the pursuit of purity that correlates with their occupational status. Just as food preparation attempts to get rid of the potential impurities present in the food, detox teas are meant to flush out those impurities from your body.