As a generation plagued by obesity, advertorial messages and advice on how to stay fit are constantly floating around. With different opinions coming left and right, it's no wonder some consumers have basically given up on using their own willpower and are now relying on products such as the Kitchen Safe and HAPIfork Bluetooth®-enabled Smart Fork. The Kitchen Safe is a lockable "cookie jar" that shows no mercy. Whatever is placed inside is inaccessible for a certain amount of time after the lid is closed and the button is pressed to lock it. Only after the timer goes off is the item accessible again. This product not only helps control overeating, but also touts itself as being useful for limiting overspending (lock that credit card up), cell phone distractions (no texting at the dinner table), and cigarette and alcohol consumption, among other things.

Brookstone's HAPIfork lights up and vibrates when the customer is eating too quickly, and has a downloadable app that can be used to access real-time statistics on things such as how long it took the customer to eat their meal or how many times the fork was brought to their mouth per minute.

Similar to the Kitchen Safe, ice cream giant Ben & Jerry's has released the Euphori-Lock, a combination lock that can be placed on a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. The lock is advertised as a way to keep unwanted ice cream stealers--friends, family, and co-workers--away from the purchaser's pint. And like the Kitchen Safe, the Euphori-Lock can also be used as a way for consumers to keep from overindulging, or at least second-guess themselves before they do.

While these devices are undoubtedly useful, it seems the general population has lost the control to "just say no." This loss of consumer impulse control helps to drive the economy, and where there is demand, there is supply. As long as consumers keep buying products they later feel the need to control, businesses will benefit two-fold--consumers buy what they love, and buy controls for what they love!