Anti-Obesity Campaign = Fat Shaming?

Last Thursday while driving into work I was listening to a story on NPR about a new anti-obesity media campaign that launched in Minnesota featuring two ads that some consider controversial.  Some feel that the two ads are derogatory and fall into the category of “fat-shaming”, while others feel that the message is appropriate.

One ad features two kids bragging about how much fast food their dads can eat, and trying to one-up each other. A dad walks up, hears the kids, and looks down guiltily at his tray of burgers and fries. The other ad shows an overweight mom wheeling a cart of unhealthy groceries around the store, eventually noticing that her chubby daughter is wheeling a smaller cart filled with the same unhealthy items.  Moral of the stories?  Kids are watching parents for guidance and will imitate them.

Initially I though the ads were a great idea and couldn’t understand the controversy.  After reading an article written by Lindy West, a staff writer at the blog Jezebel, and some of the comments to her article, I understood the controversy, even if I didn’t completely change my mind.  I watched the ads and while I didn’t feel like the one with the two boys arguing about what their dad eats is very realistic, I thought that the ad with the mother and daughter in the grocery store was more appropriate (see ads below).

They remind me of the anti-drug commercial from when I was young (“from you dad, I learned it from watching you!”).  While abstaining from drugs and teaching your kids to say no to drugs doesn’t guarantee that they won’t use drugs, if they see you using drugs they will be more likely to use drugs themselves.  I feel like the same theory can apply for food.  Even if you eat healthy all of the time, there is no guarantee that your kids won’t eat junk food when they aren’t in your presence.  But if your kids constantly see you eating junk food or that is the kind of food you buy at the grocery store, that’s what they’ll see as normal and they will eat that way too.

I was curious about others’ thoughts on this, so I posed the question on Facebook.  The opinions that I got were split; some felt that parents are completely responsible for teaching their children to eat right, especially because they are the ones who buy the groceries.  Others felt that the parents can’t always be blamed because kids are influenced by other factors and will eat junk food if they want to – just like they may use drugs even if their parents don’t.  I agree that kids may become obese even if their parents are both models – but as this studies (and many others) shows, obese parents are more likely to have children who are obese, and researchers believe the link is more behavioral than genetic.

I still feel like it’s important for parents to set a good example and try to teach their kids healthy eating habits.  I don’t think that everyone should, or can be skinny (hell, I’m not skinny), but most people can control whether they are obese or not.  While I eat well most of the time, I know that I need to do a little better in the snacking department.  We intend to have kids and I want to set a good example for them.  I feel like examples are more powerful than words with kids – “do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t seem to be quite as effective.  Obesity has become a major issue in the United States.  It’s not just a body image issue, it’s a major health issue and it’s a financial strain on individuals and the health care system (no matter what health care system America is under).  I understand that people say that

What do you think about these ads and the message.  Do you think they are inappropriate and/or ineffective?  I’d love to hear other opinions on this in case I’m not seeing the bigger picture.