Great article Lydia. Also some very important points for a campaign that I understand has now been planned to be for three years. I also have requested information about this campiagn, to which the spin doctors of the Live Lighter campaign assured I would get by email me. they assured they were transparent and had plenty. I too have an empty email in-box. Attempting to appear transparent by making claims in public but doing completely different things behind the scenes. Yes I am also intrigued as to who were the experts they consulted, why are these people no bleeting about how wonderful and necessary it is to vilify people. Why has the state government remained silent also depsite me sending emails asking for a please explain from them and why they have funded this? It seems the opposition is also similarily silent when normally they will take any opportunity to question the vast sum of money that are wasted?! Lydia, you're a trooper and thanks so much for recognising this issue goes beyond WA and that it impacts in so many other ways!

It sounds like a consultation instead of a collaboration. As a fellow academic (not in the same field) in my experience this is not untypical. These organisations want to do what they want to do without getting criticised for it. If they can say they've "collaborated" it allows them to get away with whatever they want.
Good luck with getting them to provide methodology, it shouldn't take this long.

Jules M

As a mother I have watched my teenage son battle with his body image for the past two years. It is a relentless situation as he is tormented by the fear of eating carbs and does all he can to achieve that ripped muscly look with almost zero fat on his body or in his diet. I see the way he reacts to these ads, they are distressing to him and I fear they will only confirm to him that fat is something to avoid. I agree with the author, scaring ppl is not the way to go. You don't solve obesity issues by creating disordered eating. I am from WA and I want these ads gone.

I am continually amazed at the way "researchers" can find almost anything you want them to, so long as the money, particularly public money, keeps flowing in.

If you don't like what one lot say, commission someone else to "do" the same subject. Be sure to let them know what you want in the result.

Works for global warming, why not diet?

Well done Lydia. There are some definite concerns about this campaign that need to be addressed. Shaming and humiliating those who are obese is both unhelpful and unnecessary.

Max Weber, the 19th century political economist and philosopher thought that the bureaucratic organisation would eventually be predominant in capitalist society. And so it is. One result of this is that, as globalisation has steadily reduced the control national governments can have over their economies, government bureaucracies have intruded more and more into the personal lives of citizens.

That's why this particular campaign and all the others dedicated to making us eat, drink and behave differently are essentially political acts. They are designed to exert government control over how we live our lives, through the range of government funded agencies using tactics based on fear.

I don't imagine Christians ever thought the 7 deadly sins might become politicised in this way but that's what's happening to the sin of gluttony. It's an extraordinary irony that the secular public health elite would draw on the Christian notion of sin as the underlying principle of their campaigns.