iz

In Taiwan, the commercials of the so-called “junk food” are mostly illustrated with quality such as youth, joy, and rebellion. People can see these attributes in the ads of Kinder Bueno, Lay’s Potato Chips, Gudao Plum Green Tea (古道梅子綠茶)1, to name only a few. Advertisers often promote these products with images of teenage pop culture. To make young people buy their products, advertisers often depict an unruly and uncontained body in the commercials. The body representation of this kind exemplifies a Bakhtinian grotesque body. It represents a body in flux and in motion. This paper aims to look into the grotesque body in food advertising in Taiwan. Through examining Bakhtin’s idea of the grotesque body, we can see how the body in food advertising is re/presented as a medium with different meanings. Key Words: Advertising, Food Commercial, Bakhtin, The Grotesque Body, Junk Food.