Your Child is Obese…Deal With It

Summary: When is a campaign offensive? Perhaps when the issue is not only sensitive, but complicated. A non-profit organization in Georgia called Strong4Life spearheaded a campaign started in the spring of 2011 that raised awareness about the childhood obesity problem in the state. According to health officials, Georgia has one of the worst childhood obesity rates in the country, second only to Mississippi. Childhood and health advocates are torn about the campaign, because they believe that bringing more awareness to the issue is crucial (Strong4Life is working with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta) but others feel like the black-and-white, in-your-face imagery is not the way to attack such an issue. The campaign is to get in front of parents and tell them that it is time to do something. What parent wants to hear that their child is suffering from hypertension? That’s an easy question to answer. The harder question is, who wants to be the parent to take the blame for causing it? Like in a classroom full of children who won’t ‘fess up for putting chalk in the erasers, a room full of parents would have firmly tucked their hands into their pockets. According to Strong4Life, 75% of parents of overweight kids ignore the problem. Linda Matzigkeit, a top executive of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, told ABC News that around one million children in Georgia are considered overweight or obese. With the sheer number of unhealthy children, and the overwhelming statistic of parents doing nothing, that is a formula for a strong response.