Childhood obesity billboards too much??

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  • fitnesspirateninja
    fitnesspirateninja Posts: 667 Member
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    They don't seem overtly offensive to me. It sounds like the biggest issue is that they used children in the ads, but that's the whole point, right? Is it that people don't like children being called obese in billboard form?

    On the other hand, I don't know how successful this campaign will be. Parents need to be educated and they need support. Do billboard ads actually help educate people?
  • lilmissy2
    lilmissy2 Posts: 595 Member
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    I don't think it's any kind of wake up call. My experience is that even a gentle nudge in the 'this is your responsibility' direction for parents of overweight children tends to send them running in the opposite direction. I think rather than accusing people of doing things wrong, we need to find a way to support them, as families, to make changes. The sad truth is, that not everyone knows exactly where they are going wrong. Sure, they know salad is healthy and cake is not but they often have little concept of how they can incorporate normal foods into an everyday healthy lifestyle in terms of portion control and food preparation skills.
  • trainguy917
    trainguy917 Posts: 366 Member
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    I realized after reading my post that it could be taken as a shot at some of the posters in this thread. When I was speaking of ignorance and laziness, I was speaking of parents who will see these signs and think that it doesn't apply to them and their dangerously overweight children, not to people who expressed sympathy toward the kids on the signs. I hope no one took it that way.

    As an overweight adult who was an overweight child, I wish something had happened to convince my parents and, even more, me to realize that the traditional fat-and-sugar-laden foods that had been fine on the farm with people who were working off all those extra calories, were not okay now that we were no longer living on the farm and doing chores from dawn to dusk. But that really was a different time. We understand nutrition and fitness so much better now than then. I don't blame my parents. But parents have to know now. Even folks on a limited income can find healthier choices for their kids. If they could just quit buying the fast food, they could afford to cook healthier meals.
  • angiesteele
    angiesteele Posts: 366 Member
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    I saw that after leaving work yesterday. Honestly I think it is a wake up call.....
  • Corinne_Bruce
    Corinne_Bruce Posts: 206
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    poor fat kids..haveing the fact that they are fat plastered on billboards...

    I highly doubt these children had no idea they were going to be used in this campaign. I am sure that their parents know and the kids knew (to an extent) why they were being photographed.

    Totally agree, they had to sign a release in order for their face to be on the billboards anyway. I think it's the wake up call America needs!!
  • HeatherShrinking
    HeatherShrinking Posts: 805 Member
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    Holy crap! Am I the only one that was appalled by their news reporting. How many puns can you stick in a story? "The big fat controversy," "Let's weigh in," etc. (Anyone watch "How I Met Your Mother?" It sounds like Robyn's fake news reports!). Plus, their experts are one doctor and facebook users? How does that make a balanced story? How about a child psychologist to address the affects this could have on the children in the ads or other children seeing them?
  • HeatherShrinking
    HeatherShrinking Posts: 805 Member
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    lol. Reminds me of Zombieland, "Rule number one: Cardio."

    Awesome! One of the reasons I have started to take up Cardio!
  • fitnesspirateninja
    fitnesspirateninja Posts: 667 Member
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    I don't think it's any kind of wake up call. My experience is that even a gentle nudge in the 'this is your responsibility' direction for parents of overweight children tends to send them running in the opposite direction. I think rather than accusing people of doing things wrong, we need to find a way to support them, as families, to make changes. The sad truth is, that not everyone knows exactly where they are going wrong. Sure, they know salad is healthy and cake is not but they often have little concept of how they can incorporate normal foods into an everyday healthy lifestyle in terms of portion control and food preparation skills.

    This is a great idea. So much of the information we get is finger-pointing and telling us what we're doing wrong. How exactly does one prepare a healthy meal when you're short on cash and time? How big is a "serving" of vegetables? How do you read a nutritional label when the serving size says one oz. but there's seven in a package?

    I had to teach myself how to eat right and excercise, but I already knew that processed foods and a lack of excercise made me overweight. Creating a realistic lifestyle change evaded me for years because I didn't have the tools I needed.

    Maybe their money would be better spent on educational outreach? Free cooking, meal planning, and excercise classes for parents and kids would be a good start.
  • ✿KẙMb529✿
    ✿KẙMb529✿ Posts: 152
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    I wasn't really offended by the billboards and totally agree that SOMETHING needs to be done. I think they should've included the parents on the bilboard. My bet is that they're obese too. There is definitely a trend here and America needs to SEE it.
  • karilynn27
    karilynn27 Posts: 190 Member
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    It is definitely a much needed wake up call, childhood obesity is getting out of hand, just because they are children doesnt mean they can eat whatever they want.

    I think the billboards are great.
  • wriglucy
    wriglucy Posts: 1,064 Member
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    These billboards need to be everywhere!!!!
  • ruth1104
    ruth1104 Posts: 40 Member
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    Maybe this would be helpful if only parents were going to see it, but kids are too and I can just imagine that this becomes nasty ammunition for school bullies.. Will that be helpful in tackling childhood obesity? Probably not
  • Shawna_831
    Shawna_831 Posts: 316
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    I understand where some of you are coming from with the concern for the children who are on these ads. As a mother, I can not help but feel for the child and think about the hell they are going to endure in school. But as a mother, I can not help but to think how I never want my child to endure any of that. As a mother, I want my child to live a long and healthy life. People say that these kids will be teased for being up on these billboards but they already are for just being overweight. Maybe by being up on these ads they are taking the steps needed to make that life change.
  • rockabyesarojane
    rockabyesarojane Posts: 471
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    i think it's is the slap in the face our society needs. we need to stop enabling just b/c we think we're being nice. stop being nice and start showing that you care with a little tough love.
  • emmahutchy
    emmahutchy Posts: 4
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    I think the USA need that show 'honey we're killing the kids'. It showed how your kids would look if they still lived on junk and what their health would be. Some of the results where shocking.
    I think the boards are good idea, especially in a town the ranked 2nd with number of obease. You know theres a problem when you have to hide certain foods from your kids.
  • joleciamichelle
    joleciamichelle Posts: 139 Member
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    I think I have mixed feelings. I think a wake up call IS needed but posting the kids I don't agree with. I like the commercials like the commercials that show mom's taking control of THEIR KITCHENS! Putting THEM The PARENT as the face of responsibility. Kids are a product of their environment, should have put the fat parents ON the billboard NOT the kids. But with a firm but positive message about making change for the sake of the kids.

    I agree also that a wake up call is needed. I was an obese kid. I was 120lbs at 5 and 200lbs by the time I was 10 and 300lbs by the time I was 13. My parents had their own weight problems and I was morbidly obese before I even noticed something was wrong. HOWEVER, I agree with Jena that they need to promote healthier lifestyles, not exploit the suffering children. Show families exercising together or cooking together. We KNOW there is a problem but the parents of obese kids need to see the SOLUTION. Using my parents as an example, they had their own weight and personal struggles and I think it was just overwhelming for them to also have two obese children to deal with as well. Trust me, most people with obese kids KNOW that it is a problem and if they don't the media shoves the obesity epidemic down our throats every chance we get anyways so they can't avoid it for long. Also, it's not just obese kids that could benefit from something like this ALL AMERICAN FAMILIES NEED TO BE HEALTHIER. Plain and simple. Stop doing what all of society is doing and making fat kids feel ashamed and helpless-we can do that well enough on our own.
  • 123456654321
    123456654321 Posts: 1,311 Member
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    I can see both sides of this issue. I just wish there was a way to target the parents without potentially causing more problems for the kids in school. I can just see kids saying "You look like the billboard fatty! You're gonna have diabetes" and things like that. I do agree that we need a slap in the face, I'm just not so positive this is the best way. I don't have a better suggestion either though... *shrug*
  • SeattleLady
    SeattleLady Posts: 70
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    When I was a child, I was told during puberty by several adults that I needed to watch my weight, and put on various diets. I was even offered $2000 to lose a certain amount of weight. At the time, I had no tools to do this. I was given adult responsibilities of taking care of my brothers and sisters, was not interested in sports and was responsible for cooking for the family. The food that was purchased was high in processed fats and carbohydrates. I was told to do something that would mean starving myself or going without the normal childhood joys such as ice cream or candy. It created a cycle of shame that took me 30 years to break. I do not agree that these children should be exploited, but I do agree that parents need education. And I really wish they had had that education prior to raising children to believe they were worthless and had no self control.
  • MisdemeanorM
    MisdemeanorM Posts: 3,493 Member
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    I think the fact that some people find them offensive is a problem! Oh, poor fat kid on the billboard. Those kids on the billboard are probably a ton emotionally better off, because odds are, since they are identified, and by people who understand, they are getting help. And it looks like there are... what, 1/2 dozen of them at most? Just wanting to sweep it under the rug so no one gets hurt of offended or uncomfortable etc is a huge part of the problem. Not being able to say "this is wrong - you should not feed your kid junk all the time - look at them!" is wrong.

    The "poor fat kids" are the ones that no one is doing anything about (and by no one, I mean parents) and are likely going through all sorts of emotional scaring at a young age, and building up for even more as they grow older, not to mention the health impact as well. I saw a 3 yr old that had to have weighed 50 or more lbs! A 3 yr old!!! It was awful. There is no way that kid is not going to always struggle with his weight or likely be very sick from it.

    What if the billboards were for people to donate to doctors who do facial reconstruction and feature a child with a cleft pallet? Same concept and I don't know that people would say that was exploiting that child, too shocking, bad for the kid's self esteem etc. People are very visual - they need to see things, and they, unfortunately need things broken down Barney-style for them to grasp it or have it impact them.
  • Solomonre0
    Solomonre0 Posts: 143 Member
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    I really don't think that any parent would be forcing their child into this situation. Therefore I'm supposing the the children who have their face on the billboards are okay with it. I don't think that the billboards are wrong in any way, but I wonder how much good they would actually do. Do people pay that much attention to them? (I come from a state without billboards so I don't know how much impact they have)

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