"Stop Childhood Obesity." Have you seen the billboards and...

http://www.stopchildhoodobesity.com/


http://www.11alive.com/news/article/189875/3/Critics-say-obe sity-campaign-more-harmful-than-helpful

Ok, I grew up as an overweight child since age 6 and then an obese adult....I think the commercials and billboards are very hurtful!!! Isn't it hard enough growing up that way without someone pointing fingers at you any more than they already do? 

I am shocked that this is what they came up with to help childhood obesity...instead of spending so much $$$ on commercials and billboards....have classes to help teach healthy recipes and life styles...or something....

What do you think?

Below is part of the article...above you can click on the sites to see more....

"They're doing more harm than good," says Peggy Howell, the group's spokeswoman. "They are making children think that there is something wrong with them. That they're doing something wrong."

 

The push to get kids to lead healthy lifestyles has gained national attention in recent years. The White House is on board; Michelle Obama has traveled the country to promote the importance of healthy eating.

Frieson says Georgia has the second highest child obesity rates in the country. He wants the ads to reach parents, many of whom, he says, are in denial.

 

"It's not just the parents who see these billboards," Howell argues. "It's the children as well...children who are not blind and who are old enough to read."

She says such campaigns should target everyone equally and encourage everyone to live a healthy lifestyle.

 

Frieson says the billboards are just the first phase of the campaign and have since been taken down to prepare for the next wave of ads. But judging from the buzz they've caused, he believes they are working.

 

"We have heard from more kids that have raised their hands and said 'can you help me?'" he says. "'I have asked for help, nobody wants to help me, can you help me?'"

I have been obese my entire life and I don't really have a problem with the campaign.

edited to add - I do think you are right in that there are better ways to use the $$ , though

There is so much parent denial about this problem.  Education is needed, but I'm not sure how it would happen where only parents would see the information and not kids.  I think it needs to come from more than just pediatricians, since many times they are only face to face with parents once or twice/yr.  So I don't know.  I don't want to humiliate a child anymore than the next person, but I don't really have any better answers about how to create awareness of the problem. 

I do know that even at my daughter's pre-school (she goes to a center that is part of a national chain), they have frequent conversations/lessons about being healthy, eating healthy foods, and exercising.  I just don't think stuff like that translates into the parents of overweight and obese children necessarily realizing that it is a real problem.

Taking into account that some children are genetically predisposed to obesity, I don't think that majority of the increases in obesity can be attributed to that. Junk food and sedentary lifestyles are rampant.

When I was a child, the only snack foods we had unlimited access to were canned pineapple, apples, tangerines, boxes of raisins, and other fruit. As long as it was light outside, we were OUTSIDE playing tag, roller skating, riding bikes. Sitting in front of a tv screen was an activity limited to rainy days.

We ate fast food maybe once a month.

The children should not be humiliated into this behavior. The parents need to take responsibility and take charge.

Obesity runs in my family...unfortunately my daughter took after me....she is 23 years old...who has a very outgoing personality, went to a performing arts High School and graduated from Savannah Art and Design with an acting degree (called something Else, but it is an acting degree) we were driving together the other day and she saw one of the billboards....she started crying and said...."Mom, don't they know how hard it is to grow up with a weight problem?" They are only making it worse....for the children!

I know personally what it feels like to be picked on by other children....and unfortunately told by a parent...."You are fat....you are an embarrassment" (The person telling me this was obese himself...go figure)

I can only imagine how much hurt a child would feel watching TV and seeing these commercial...instead of being built up...they would be torn down!

But this is only my opinion and my experiences.

 

I agree. Perhaps the children require a gentle reminder why ALL children need to avoid junk food to support the dietary changes made by their parents.

But, humiliating fat children is absolutely barbaric no matter how you look at it.

I think the question is what is the most effective way of raising public awareness of the problem of childhood obesity.

I wonder if the billboards will turn out to be about as effective as the "just say no" drug campaign of the Nancy Reagan era. In other words, not very.

Seems to me that the healthy eating approach might be more useful.

 All  I know is that  those excess fat cells created  when i WAS  an obese child have  plagued me  all my life .  

Its  an incredible handicap  to have  ( whats the average )  three  TIMES more  fat cells than the next person  because of  childhood  obesity ?  Its not like  liposuction  or even bariatric surgery  REALLY  helps those numbers  .... maybe a LITTLE  but Ure STILL predisposed to an roly-poly body .  

I will have to run or aerobically exercise every single day to maintain my   post surgery  body weight ...    

not to get  diabetes back 

not to see my weight  (  once again )  inexorably creep back up 



Yeah  I WISH  someone had  helped me  as a child .... and maybe forced my parents to be more aware.  

The problem I see is that there's an implication of something wrong on a personal level with the obese kids and their families, and that the billboards are using shame tactics. Both are inappropriate because they're blanketing obesity as a "choice". While there are some families who aggrivate the problem by feeding their kids crap, there are a lot of cases where gentics and metabolic problems play a role. In the latter case, they do not get proper treatment because they're almost always lumped into the "you're fat because you eat to much crap" by medical professionals (and others) who carry an enormous prejudice against anyone who happens to be obese. Instead of trying to find out what the real problem is doctors, the government and the general public find it much more convient to point blame and throw money into public shaming instead of obesity research and making healthy food more affordable.

I'm not the only one who's noticed that families don't cook from sctach anymore, they buy pre-processed crap or use a lot of carb heavy ingredients because they're cheap and to be honest they have a budget to meet, so who can blame them when healthy food costs twice as much? It's not a "choice" when you can't afford salmon, but you can afford a box of pasta and your kids have to eat SOMETHING- so what's it going to be? Obviously it's going to be pasta because money doesn't come out of thin air.

On the other hand you have people who just don't know how to cook. A dinner composed of a lettuce salad, baked sweet taters and baked chicken legs is not expensive, time consuming, or hard to do... And it tastes a heck of a lot better than take out pizza. In this respect I really like how Julia Child and the Food Network have gotten America interested in cooking food once again. More and more people are re-learning how important it is to have a home cooked meal at home.

Money is a HUGE factor.  

So is accessibility of nutritious food for low income families.  The larger grocery store chains typically operate only in nicer parts of the community.   The poor have to travel longer distances to get fresh food or else get price-gouged by small neighborhood stores.  It's sad.