Think of the (Fat) Children: Minnesota's 'Better Example' Anti-Obesity Campaign
Urging people to set better examples for their kids plays on a moral imperative that lies in the gray area between educating and shaming.
"In 2011 a high-energy anti-obesity ad...became something of a meme in the North Star State. If it didn't inspire sedentary Minnesotans to join in the "Do Groove," it at least made a celebrity of its sweater-vested protagonist.
That ad embodied aspects of effective anti-obeisty campaigns identified by a recent Yale study. Like First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative -- it focused on positive motivation while avoiding explicit mention of the elephant in the room: obesity. Few feelings were hurt, but was it effective?
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"To be honest, we've spent a lot of years promoting physical activity, a little bit like what the White House campaign is currently doing, in a very positive, sort of fun way," said Dr. Marc Manley, vice president and chief prevention officer for the Blue Cross. "But at the same time we're realizing that this problem of obesity is a really serious problem." So their two new commercials, which debuted this month, take a decisively more aggressive stance...."
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There are some obvious parallels in the Minnesota campaign to one undertaken in Georgia -- down to the resemblance of the little girls featured. In both, the focus is on childhood obesity, with the acknowledgement that unhealthy eating is a pattern set early that can follow them into adulthood. These new ads also highlight the role that parents have in shaping these habits, something that the Yale study identified as potentially off-putting to audiences."
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