Have you seen the latest Dairy Queen commercial? A mom walks in her living room, sees her kids playing and notices a commercial for an ice cream treat on TV. It looks so good, she asks the kids if they want to go get one. She leaves, and the boys turn off the video; the commercial wasn't on TV -- they had recorded it and played it in hopes of tricking their mom. It cracks me up every time.

The see-and-eat concept falls right in line with a recent post on CafeMom. Michael Pollan, author of The New York Times best seller "The Omnivore's Dilemma," recently said in an interview that we shouldn't buy food we see advertised. He has a point -- burgers, fries, sweet treats and other goodies are advertised non-stop, but commercials for fruits, vegetables and other healthful foods are more rare.

Tell me: Are your eating habits influenced by commercials?

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Upstairs in my shower there is a bottle of shampoo that has big letters stating "formulated with biotin." Obviously the manufacturers want me to believe it's a good thing. Biotin is a B vitamin that's found in lots of foods, but why is it in my shampoo and what is supposed to do? Your guess is as good as mine.

The weight loss industry isn't immune from this tried and true marketing technique. Take Slim Fast for example. Have you seen their recent commercial where a woman literally kicks her cravings? (I absolutely love the concept of kicking a giant-sized donut to smithereens.) The voice over for the commercial states that Slim Fast's HC4 will control hunger for up to four hours.

So what is HC4? Magic? Fairy dust? According to Slim Fast's website, HC4 is a blend of proteins, fiber and lipids. So no magic. No fairy dust. Just every day things that can be found in a healthy diet. If you're considering Slim Fast or any other diet aid, be sure to really check out the fancy names and claims that they make. You may find out that it doesn't really live up to the hype.

Have you ever used an appetite suppressant, diet pill or other diet aid? What made you decide to try it? What results did you see?

In an effort to get people thinking about healthy habits and exercise, Texas-based non-profit Active Life commissioned some new -- and interesting -- ads.

Think Barbie's usual measurements are unrealistic? Check out this ad, where Barbie's got a much more realistic, if unhealthy, figure. In another, a superhero sits with remote control in one hand, dripping ice cream cone in the other. And in a third, pirates are far too portly to look for hidden treasure.

While the ads may make a point, do they hit their mark? "Let's see: blatant stereotyping, promotion of bigotry and hate, and whitening," says one commenter on Ads of the World. "Wow, what a way to completely miss the ball. Consider this slide show of Olympic athletes and think about actually promoting an 'active life' rather than stereotyping body images."

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If you're an everyday athlete -- a Saturday night softball league pitcher, a runner who beats the pavement nightly, a biker who braves back country trails, a hard-core gym rat, or any other fitness enthusiast you may be just the person Gatorade is looking for.

One catch ... your name has to be Serena.

Gatorade is going to launch a new campaign for its G2 sports drink. They're looking for everyday athletes (who happen to be named Serena) to star in commercials with tennis great, Serena Williams. Shape magazine has the details.

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I've said it before and I'll say it again. I think 100-calorie packs are a completely ridiculous concept. Why? Well, I'm not against the easy calorie control. However, I think that some people get lured by the siren's song of "100 calories" and start to think they're eating healthfully. Sorry, but junk food is junk food. It reminds me of the low-fat craze in the early 90s; my college friends and I used to by Entenmann's fat-free pastries and we seriously thought -- because they were fat free -- they wouldn't contribute to weight gain. Yeah. I left college about 35 pounds heavier than when I started.

Oreo Cakesters has a commercial which is just so wrong. I thought I was being overly critical about it, until I found another health blogger who feels the same way. Watch the video and you'll see women chasing down a Cakesters delivery van. Notice there's not a heavy woman among them. Notice there's not a man among them. Notice how they're all completely maniacal and crazed over these 100-calorie packs. Okay, okay ... I get that it's supposed to be a joke. But there's a kernel of truth to most jokes, and people have gone a little nutty over 100-calorie packs.

What do you think about the commercial? Do you find it borderline offensive like I do? Or do you think it's funny?

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I just had the TV on and the above commercial ran. I about choked on my glass of water when I read the fine print:

• Results Not Typical. Clinical studies have shown average caloric intake was reduced by 12.5 percent to 30 percent.
• Cartoon Dramatization. Results not typical. Real people require diet and exercise to lose body fat.
  

Bummer. I'm a real person so I guess I can't expect to lose weight as quickly as that cartoon did.

A recent study theorized that banning fast food commercials would have a positive impact on childhood obesity. After all, most kids watch an awful lot of television -- being tempted by burgers and fries (not to mention the toys they're packaged with) can be a big draw. Pair that with the potential sleep problems and loss of physical activity due to TV watching and you've got a recipe for childhood obesity. Or do you?

I asked That's Fit readers what they thought about banning fast food commercials. Here are the results:

• 56.6 percent think banning fast food commercials is a good idea. Remove the temptation and maybe kids would beg and plead for fast food less often.
• 34.5 percent of you think kids will still want fast food, whether they see it on commercials or not.
  
• 8.7 percent of you voted for other. Many comments focused on the fact that it shouldn't matter whether kids see commercials or not -- parents should determine the types of food that their family is eating. Kids shouldn't be the ones who dictate what they eat.

Do you think you're up on knowledge about childhood obesity? Take this AOL Health childhood obesity quiz and find out.

Most fast food meals make me feel a little ill -- yet often, when I catch a fast food commercial running on TV, the food looks so good I salivate like Pavlov's dog. That's exactly what those commercials are designed to do -- make you crave a trip to your nearest fast food joint for whatever triple-decker, bacon-packed, artery-clogging burger they're advertising this week.

A recent study reviewed data on nearly 13,000 children to determine how many advertising commercials most children view on TV each week. Researchers believe the commercials have a big impact on the amount of children who eat fast food. They estimate that banning fast food commercials from TV would reduce obesity in children ages 3-11 by 18 percent and by 14 percent in adolescents ages 12-18.

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Think about it: What form of technology has made the single biggest impact in the lives of children over the past 100 years? Computers have revolutionized the world, but I suspect television has made the biggest impact on young people, particularly because they are a captive audience subjected to clever and manipulative advertising that is targeted specifically at them. As such, it's believed that TV advertising is one of the top causes of ever-rising childhood obesity.

This revelation has caused Mark Scott, the Managing Director of the Australian Broadcasting Corp, to push back against kid-targeted advertising, and he's calling for a commercial-free Children's channel to be developed down under.

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We've been hearing for years that high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is bad for us -- that it causes obesity and other related health problems. And, earlier this year, the FDA ruled that HFCS is "not natural." However, an ad campaign has been launched to try to change our minds.

Have you seen these commercials? I can't say that I disagree with part of their message -- inform yourself about what you're eating. The problem is that the HFCS industry wants to be the ones informing you via their website, SweetSurprise.com. And, sorry, but that's not exactly an unbiased source.

So why are these ads coming out now? There could be many reasons, including the fact that major food retailers, like Kraft, are starting to label products as HFCS-free because so many people are trying to cut it out of their diets. The fact of the matter is that it's extremely difficult to avoid HFCS -- it's everywhere. A number of studies have shown a link between HFCS and obesity, especially in children. HFCS doesn't give you the full feeling you should have after consuming it, leading you to consume more calories and gain weight.

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Nickelodeon is the latest to come under fire in the battle against childhood obesity. A recent study showed that more than 80% of the foods and snacks advertised on the network are unhealthy -- including products tied to popular characters like SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer. As a result (and in light of the growing childhood obesity problem), a nutrition advocacy group is asking Nickelodeon to make some changes -- saying they could advertise less junk food and more toys or games.

People for Nickelodeon insist that they have been and remain focused on "balanced messaging," and that currently 10% of the network's airtime is devoted to promoting healthy food choices like fruits and vegetables. They say they will continue to work with advertisers to encourage healthy lifestyle choices for kids.

Sounds like nothing is changing anytime soon.

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So what is with all of the obsession of Hollywood stars and is it healthy? Tabloid sales sky rocketing, hair styles being influenced, clothing and party trends being copied. Is it turning the heads of the young away from moral values? Where are the individual influences of us commoners. European countries scoff at our obsession of movie and television actors as if we treat them as royalty. The media does entire shows to cover the lives of the people in Hollywood. Hollywood movie stars make millions of dollars from their fan support and people love to see them any chance they get. It is just like the day time soap opera title implies, the bold and the beautiful make it in the world. The mild, meek and average stand by. Even the fashion magazines proudly print the famous faces of Hollywood on the front covers of their spreads instead of the industry runway models and big corporations have them advertising their products in commercials.

Here recently are several examples. The death of Anna Nicole Smith is played out night after night in the entertainment news and in tabloids. A person that was best known for partying around Hollywood, marrying a man way older than her, has a dispute over who is the father of her baby, and over doses on drugs. And the unexplained behavior of Brittany Spears and her trips to rehab. I don't get it. I don't get why Americans care about this.

So when is the last time you asked your child or teenager who they admired and who they wanted to be like. Is it too late to instill the values of the hard working class citizens again or are we completely given in to the glitz and glamor of Tinseltown and all the fast tracking easy come easy go images that it implies. Are we teaching nothing but dazzling good looks and becoming an actor will go far in getting you noticed? I think healthy habits in choosing what matters in this world need to be evaluated.

Signs posted up on doctors walls, television coverage, health news broadcasts, and even commercials all emphasizing the new proper procedure on how to cough in public. We are now supposed to cough into our sleeve or a napkin, tissue, hanky, or something cloth to catch the germs. Coughing on the hands or just straight out in to the air can transfer germs for up to eight hours as they float about waiting to land on something or you spread them around with your hands on everything you touch.

With all of this coverage, I still witness lots of people coughing unprotected into the air or on their hands. So what will change the habits of millions of people daily? I think it begins at home with mothers teaching the proper way to cough while impressionable minds still can grasp the new concept. I also think the school systems should jump on board emphasizing the proper way to cough and protect others from spreading germs. But for us old farts out here, well...., that lesson may be harder to teach. We just need to get a better prospective on how our carelessness can affect a lot of people and build a conscious. Nothing like getting coughed on a hundred times in a doctors office by people ignoring posters plastered all around the office on the proper way to cough to realize this.

I have had friends over the years make fun of me lovingly when I raise the neck of my shirt and cough down inside my shirt saying I look so funny doing that. I felt it was the best way on a spur of the moment kind of thing when the coughing urge hits, to keep my germs from flying about. Who is laughing now?