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Video: Anti-Obesity Ads Featuring Fat Children Spark Controversy
A series of anti-obesity ads featuring unhappy overweight kids have caused controversy in Georgia (video below).
The ads feature kids saying lines such as “some diseases aren’t just for adults anymore” and “being fat takes the fun out of being a kid.”
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, which co-founded the Strong4Life ad campaign, intended for the ads to be grim, hoping the clips would help parents recognize the severity of the obesity epidemic in Georgia, where it is the second highest in the nation.
“We felt like we needed a very arresting, abrupt campaign that said: ‘Hey Georgia! Wake up. This is a problem. If we do not wake up, this will be disastrous for our state,” said Linda Matzigkeit, a senior vice president at Children’s Healthcare, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
However, some are slamming the campaign for its use of shock tactics, saying the ads don’t actually offer a solution to child obesity, ABC reported.
“There is no mention about what a parent can do other than to say ‘stop sugarcoating the problem,’” said Dr. Lori Feldman-Winter, a pediatrics professor at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
“Blaming the victim rarely helps,” said Dr. Miriam Labbok, a health professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to ABC. “These children know they are fat, and they are ostracized already.”
According to Dr. John Morton of the Stanford University School of Medicine, the ads might be harsh, but they could work: “To change deep-seated social and physiologic behavior like eating will require enormous work, and these ads will help the family start thinking about prevention."
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Comments
Looks like parents
Looks like parents everywhere--not just in Georgia--think their kids' diets are better than they are: http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/mothers-overestimate-dietary-quality/ (great site, excellent videos)
I agree with Bill Fabrey's
I agree with Bill Fabrey's comment. This form of helping children and educating parents is backfiring and offering more free passes to bullies who will ostraSIZE their peers for not fitting in to a narrow definition of health and attractiveness. My extensive background as a K-12 educator and therapist provided me with endless examples of kids who were fat for reasons that had nothing to do with food, exercise, or parental negligence. Yet they were subject to the same disdain. Not that any shaming or disdain for a person's body is justified! There are many thin children who engage in unhealthy eating and exercising and they get a free pass because thin is equated with health in our society. Campaigns such as these do a disservice to fat and skinny kids alike! Warmly, Dr. Deah Schwartz, www.leftoverstogo.com
Warmly, Dr. Deah Schwartz, leftoverstogo.com
http://www.thedailybeast.com/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/04/anti-obesity-ads-won-t-work-by-telling-fat-kids-to-stop-being-fat.html Another article on the same topic that concurs with this article.
Warmly, Dr. Deah Schwartz, leftoverstogo.com
Are you saying that ignoring
Are you saying that ignoring a problem will make it better?
As a fitness professional who has helped thousands of people with their health goals, I can state that over 99% of all weight problems are from nothing more complicated than overeating and easting too much of the wrong foods.
Yes, there are a few people who have other physical problems that cause them to be overweight. They should be under medical supervision.
Your assertion that thin children are not subject to the same abuse is incorrect. If you believe that, you should not be advising children about anything.
James, I can not imagine how
James, I can not imagine how you read my comment and came to the conclusion that I was condoning ignoring a problem if a problem exists. My comment was re: the efficacy of this ad campaign to help anyone. (Except perhaps line the pockets of the diet industry and weight loss professionals). I will use an analogy. Skin cancer is a serious health issue. Redheads have a higher incidence of skin cancer. Ads for skin cancer prevention do not target redheads or make redheads feel ashamed for having red hair and being more susceptible to skin cancer. I am merely proposing that in addressing health problems of children and adults, we do it without shaming the person we are trying to help. And we focus on health markers NOT weight measurements as barometers to assess whether or not someone is healthy. All fat people are not unhealthy and all thin people are not healthy, and not all fat people are healthy, and not all thin people are unhealthy. Let's just take the stigmatization out of it, the same way we finally did for HIV and AIDS and gay people and High Blood pressure and African Americans. Is that too much to ask? Re: my professional competency in working with children, I won't even go down that road with you, think what you like about that. Warmly, Dr. Deah Schwartz, leftoverstogo.com
Warmly, Dr. Deah Schwartz, leftoverstogo.com
"If a problem exists"? I
"If a problem exists"?
I think you are rather arrogant about your "qualifications" and seem to be very sensitive and defensive when someone disagrees with you.
Would you tell someone with skin cancer "It's OK to be afflicted with it, it's just the way you are."? Having had several incidents of skin cancer, I can assure you, it's not OK.
But that's nothing more than a red herring inserted to deflect from the real issue. Yes some people are endomorphs and tend to have larger frames and more body fact than say, ectomorphs. That does not make genuine obesity any more desirable or "OK". To give anyone the impression that it is does no one a service.
Although the ads may have
Although the ads may have been well-intentioned, this is a case where the so-called "cure" for fat kids is worse than the "disease."
People, including kids, have always come in all shapes and sizes. To attempt to shame people into losing weight simply doesn't work, and kids are an especially defenseless segment of the population.
These ads are discriminatory, pure and simple, and could trigger some kids into full-blown eating disorders and self-esteem issues that will take a lifetime to overcome.
As a director of the Council on Size & Weight Discrimination ( www.cswd.org ), I must protest these cavalier experiments with the well-being of our children.
Bill Fabrey
What are you saying? That
What are you saying? That obesity is not a life-long health problem? That it's fine for anyone, especially children, to be told that over eating and being fat is "just the way you are"?
Ignoring a problem or being told it's not a problem is not a solution. Doing those things makes you a part of the problem.
In the case of obesity, the
In the case of obesity, the "victim" is really a volunteer. While there are a small percentage of people with genuine medical problems causing weight gain. The major cause is nothing more than eating too much. It's very simple, consume more calories than you burn, you gain weight.
Exercise will help, but it's still very easy to eat more than you can exercise away. It's impossible to exercise enough to burn off unrestrained consumption of high-calorie foods. It might help your fitness level, but you'll still be fat.
The only answer is self-discipline. Nothing else works. Not diets, not good intentions, not "after the holidays", but start eating a little less of everything right now.
Ok, this is a very sensitive
Ok, this is a very sensitive subject. I however agree that parents need to be aware that although we have unconditional love for our children, the world our kids live in does not! We have the most energy and should be most active when we are kids, so why are there obese kids? Because parents are giving there kids foods high in sugar i.e. candy, doughnuts, etc or extra helping of food when they know there kids are over weight. Encourage your child to be more active instead of sitting in front of a computer or TV playing video games. We played kickball, hide and seek, "It" (When you chase your friends and try to tag them." The video may seem insnensitive but the message was well-intentioned.
Author Lisa Eve