Georgia’s Answer To Obesity
– via Everyday Health – Jan. 3, 2012
A controversial new anti-childhood obesity campaign’s use of black-and-white images of overweight children coupled with to-the-point messaging has caused quite a stir. Critics claim the campaign may cause additional stigma to obese children, while supporters insist the images are a necessary wake-up call for obese children and their parents.
In one of the five videos, an overweight adolescent is seen asking his overweight parent, “Mom, why am I fat?” The campaign features a “Stop sugarcoating it, Georgia,” tagline as a dose of brutal honesty hoping to shock its viewers into action.
Nearly one million children in Georgia are overweight or obese, according to the Strong4Life campaign sponsored by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. That makes the state the second worst when it comes to childhood obesity, behind Mississippi.
However while the problem in Georgia goes undisputed, the tactic of the campaign is a hot debate. “We felt like we needed a very arresting, abrupt campaign that said: ‘Hey, Georgia! Wake up. This is a problem,’” Linda Matzigkeit, a senior vice president at Children’s Healthcare, who leads the system’s wellness projects, told The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
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