Do Mukbang Videos Encourage Obesity?
Should binge-eating videos be banned?
Who can forget the barf-o-rama scene in Stand by Me?
And if anyone has been on a coach journey with toddlers on a warm day, you’ll know how vomiting spreads like a Mexican wave.
But who’s stomach turned watching the eating competition in the film before Lardass erupted? I think there’s something deeply unpleasant about looking at people gorging like pigs at a trough. No insult to pigs intended.
Although judging by the number of YouTube videos of binge eating, I can see that I’m not speaking for everyone.
Some binge eaters are huge, if you’ll excuse the pun, online. Nikocado Avocado, real name Nicholas Perry, from Pennsylvania, ate his way to millions of dollars and 3.5 million YouTube followers by eating more than 10,000 calories in front of the camera. He also had a few breakdowns, which he attributes to eating anxiety-inducing fast food.
Why do people enjoy watching binge-eaters?
Are viewers emotionally connected or perversely ghoulish?
Why are these videos so popular? Mukbang, as these videos are called, refers to the South Korean words for ‘eating’ [‘meokneun’] and ‘broadcast’ [‘bangsong’], where…
