• Test reports in the Field of Health, Fitness and Medicine
  • Data Protection
  • Impressum
  • Sitemap
  • Home
  • Uncategorized
  • Harsh Childhood Obesity Ads: Effective or Stigmatizing?
  • 22. October 2020
  • 0 comments
  • Maria Bauer
  • Uncategorized

Harsh Childhood Obesity Ads: Effective or Stigmatizing?

A new, in-your-face ad campaign in Georgia against childhood obesity is sparking controversy among health experts.

The ads feature overweight children along with blunt messages such as, “It's hard to be a little girl if you're not.”

While the ads certainly have raised awareness of the problem of childhood obesity, they may not be the best way to tackle the issue, some experts say. Moreover, in an effort to be direct, the ads may be too minimal, neglecting to inform the public about ways to prevent obesity or the health risks associated with the condition.

“Unfortunately, they kind of give a call to action, but they don’t say what is the action,” said Nancy Copperman, director of public health initiatives at the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, N.Y. “They don’t necessarily look at any solutions to the issue in the ads.”

And by omitting possible solutions, the ads become open to interpretation, Copperman said. Some may see the ads as demeaning to overweight and obese children, she said.

Instead, a more comprehensive campaign that focused on the behaviors that lead to obesity, as well as its health complications, would be a better way to encourage behavior change, Copperman said.

Changing behaviors

The campaign, called Strong4Life, is sponsored by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. The campaign's creators say they intended it to be a wake-up call for Georgia, which has the second highest rate of childhood obesity in the nation. Children's Healthcare says it decided to run the campaign with a straightforward message after a survey by the organization suggested that 75 percent of parents of obese children did not think their kids were overweight, according to ABC News.

Such “scare tactics” have been used in the past to curb teen smoking and drug abuse. However, unlike these earlier campaigns, Copperman said, the Georgia obesity ads do not include a call to action (such as “Quit smoking” or “Say no to drugs”).

The ads would be more effective if they featured positive behaviors, such as families exercising together or children eating healthy food, said Alan Delamater, a professor of pediatrics and psychology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Studies show one of the best ways to get people to change their behavior is to provide examples of the desired behavior, Delamater said.

While the agency's website does include suggestions about how to prevent obesity, it's not clear how many people who see the ads will go to the website, Delamater said.

Others say the campaign needs to convince parents of obesity's health dangers. One way of doing this, said Richard Rende, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, would be to provide statistics that describe an obese child's risk of developing diabetes and other conditions, something that neither the ads nor the website provide.

“I would like to see more real information given to parents. I think the real information is pretty scary,” Rende said.

Complex problem

The ads also place blame on individuals (the obese children's parents), but “it's not just an individual problem,” Delamater said. Our culture of junk food, the decline of physical education programs in schools, and food advertisements aimed at children all contribute to childhood obesity, he said.

“It doesn’t just boil down to the family and the choices they're making,” Delamater said.

Changes in policy and social norms are needed to tackle childhood obesity.

“It's certainly not a solution that’s going to be achieved overnight,” Delamater said.

Children's Healthcare is tracking the effectiveness of its campaign in Atlanta, according to the newspaper the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Until they have results, we won't know if such a blunt approach works or not, Copperman said.

Pass it on: A comprehensive public health campaign aimed at reducing childhood obesity is, unlike the current campaign in Georgia, likely to include mention of ways to prevent obesity and health risks associated with the condition, experts say.

Follow MyHealthNewsDaily staff writer Rachael Rettner on Twitter @RachaelRettner. Find us on Facebook.

  • 10 Ways to Promote Kids' Healthy Eating Habits
  • 6 Easy Ways to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
  • 5 Diets That Fight Diseases
Maria-Cakehealth
Maria Bauer

Maria is our expert for medicine, fitness and general health. Her contributions are particularly convincing through completeness, accuracy and her own personal experience. Maria also writes for other health magazines, which has enabled her to build up her expert status.

Leave Comment

or cancel reply

Suche
Beliebte Beiträge
  • 7 Ways Alcohol Affects Your Health
    • 18. February 2021
    • 0
  • For Women, Sex May Be Improved by ‘Mindfulness Meditation’
    • 18. February 2021
    • 0
  • Autistic Brain Excels at Recognizing Patterns
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Swine Flu May Cause Baldness
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Dogs’ Contagious Cancer Cells May Survive By Theft
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Are You Sitting Down? If You’re a College Senior, Probably
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • New Test May Screen Donated Blood for Fatal Disease-Causing Proteins
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Exercise Can’t Undo the Damage of Too Much Screen Time
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Melanoma Drug Shrinks Tumors, Study Finds
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Co-Conspirator Cells Contribute to Skin Cancer
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • YouTube May Help Elderly Dementia Patients
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Brain Functioning Decline Higher in Southern ‘Stroke Belt’
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • 8 Tips for Healthy Aging
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Alzheimer’s Vs. Normal Aging: How to Tell the Difference
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Soy Compounds May Cut Risk of Some Breast Cancers
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Estrogen May Curb Breast Cancer As Well As Promote It
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Flu Season Worse Than Usual
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Most Young Flu Victims Had Not Been Vaccinated, Fatality Report Says
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Indoor Tanners Use Beds Despite Boosting Skin Cancer Risk
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Gene Therapy May Ease Tremors in Parkinson’s Patients
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Alzheimer’s Often Misdiagnosed Until Later On
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • In Trauma Patients, Steroids May Reduce Pneumonia Risk
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Will USDA’s New ‘Plate’ Icon Make a Difference in American Diets?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Can Changing Your Diet Decrease Your Risk of Alzheimer’s?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Preventive Measures Against Alzheimer’s Still Uncertain, Report Finds
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Exercise During Pregnancy Benefits Baby’s Heart
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Hypertension Death Rate Drops, But Fatalities Still High
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • More Years of Schooling Have Healthful Effect on Blood Pressure
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Heavy Beer Drinkers Increase Their Gastric Cancer Risk
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Weight Gain: How Food Actually Puts on Pounds
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Want a Smaller Waist? Take More Breaks From Sitting
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • New Rules on Vitamin D and Calcium: Most People Get Enough
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • For Melanoma Patients, Arthritis Drug Could Treat Disease
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Brain Overgrowth in Tots Is Linked to Autism
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Airborne Mad Cow Disease Possible, But Unlikely
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Most High School Kids Don’t Get Enough Exercise, CDC Reports
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Is the 17 Day Diet Just Another Weight-Loss Gimmick?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Lead Exposure May Delay Puberty in Girls
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • The Healthy Geezer: Does Mercury Cause Cancer?
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • 11% of Infants Born Preterm Worldwide
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Severe Morning Sickness Linked to Preterm Births
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • More Money and No Dad Could Mean Early Puberty in Girls
    • 9. February 2021
    • 0
  • Too Little or Too Much Sleep May Raise Heart, Stroke Risks
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Relapse Common for Teens Who Overcome Depression
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Repeated Miscarriages May Increase Women’s Heart Attack Risk
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Earlier Detection of Dangerous Ectopic Pregnancies Possible with New Marker
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • It’s in the Blood: New Hope for Detecting Schizophrenia
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Alcohol Abuse May Lead to Marriage Postponement, Separation
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Marriage Trouble Could Mean Poor Sleep for Baby
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0
  • Weight-Loss Surgery May Improve Memory
    • 8. February 2021
    • 0

Copyright © 2020 by cakehealth.com

Impressum|Data Protection | Sitemap EN|Sitemap DE