A controversial advertising campaign aimed at highlighting the issue of childhood obesity has caused outrage in the United States, but has been accepted in the UK. The adverts, which are designed to shock, feature real children who are obese with slogans on them. One reads “Warning. It’s hard to be a little girl if you’re not” and “My fat may be funny to you, but it’s killing me”.

The adverts have won the approval of the chairman of the Child Growth Foundation, Tam Fry who believes that the government in the UK could maybe learn something from the campaign. According to Tam, government officials in the UK need to design something similar in order to shock people. The information that is being delivered using an easy going approach to the increasing problem of childhood obesity, is promptly ignored or forgotten by people. Although the shocking adverts may be upsetting for some, they will certainly be remembered.

The ad campaign originated in Georgia, US, where almost a million kids are obese, Americas second worst state for child and adult obesity. The campaign was initiated by Strong4Life, a group against obesity and staff at Atlanta’s Children’s Healthcare. “Stop Sugarcoating It, Georgia” features ads and commercials using real kids who suffer from obesity. Although many in the UK agree that the images will help to deliver an important message effectively, the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance in the US has demanded the removal of the posters, saying that the campaign is harming kids. Rebecca Puhl, researcher at Yale University said:

Stigma is not an effective motivator. We need to be sure we are fighting obesity, not obese people.