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.

the more godless we become the bigger the Government who in turn become the 'moral ' police of society. We would be banned from schools for suggesting that fornication and adultery leads to all sorts of social and mental ills. In the absence of a moral compass we need to display an outward outrage against Maccas and the like. Certainly makes our corrupt souls feel better outwardly.

the more godless we become the bigger the Government who in turn become the 'moral ' police of society.
runner,
I'm so not religious but I couldn't agree more. We have reached a stage where nonsense replaced sense, education has been replaced by dumbing, free thinking replaced by indoctrination etc etc. We need to keep academia out of decision making because all this idiocy stems from academia. It has come to where we simply can not afford academia anymore, we need to rid ourselves from these morons. One moment milk is good, the next it's bad. Fat is just bad no questions asked about individual make up. Ideal weight is turning our kids into fruit cakes. Print & tv media are forcing kids to aspire to a life only a lucky few are privileged to. There's way too much frivolity out there & it is academia which dreams up this useless & pointless crap.
If these people don't want obesity then they should give National Service the thumbs up instead of down. What about the their obesity of stupidity ?

We live a decadent, sedentary lifestyle in the West. More often than not (because we are, for some reason, time poor), we turn to food that is high in saturated fats and sugars and chock full of preservatives and colourings. We sit in capsules to move through our environment. We sit in front of an electronic window (TV) for hours for entertainment. We rely on gadgets to do our work....we DO have a problem and we can rail against whomever suits our cause, but that won't change the reality that obesity is an ubiquitous "symptom" of our lifestyle.

We live a decadent, sedentary lifestyle in the West.
Poirot,
I'd like to dispute that somewhat. The middle eastern & asians with money are way more decadent than any westerner I've ever heard of. There are some very silly rich in the West but the zenith of decadence is in the East.

Phooey to that, individual.

Singling out rich Easterners is a silly argument. We in the West have, by and large, morphed into a physically inactive population - that and our food choices are the reasons for widespread obesity.

Phooey to that
Poirot,
whatever, just name one of the eastern rich who gave what Gates, Forbes et al have given. Just one name would suffice. Thanks.

individual,

What has "who's given most" got to do with overweight sedentary Westerners.

It's about lifestyle and technological innovation and wealth. We don't move enough. We eat too much. And our lazy fast food culture guarantees that a sizable portion of the population will be overweight, if not obese.

What has "who's given most" got to do with overweight sedentary Westerners.
Poirot,
Westerners earn reasonably well hence they can afford feeding themselves into oblivion. Show me a rich Oriental who pays fair wages. Show me an obese oriental working class.
Yes westerners are quite stuffed & I have been saying this for 40 years. At least they're not stuffed from lack of nourishment due their dictatorial hierarchies. Why else do so many easterners strive to come here ? Not because they can stay super slim, that's for sure.

"Stuff themselves into oblivion"....how apt....how human!

It's no use discussing non-Western dictatorial hierarchies, because it's outside the subject at hand.

It's about lifestyle and technological innovation and wealth.
Poirot,
Add to that moron academic interference.

>>It's about lifestyle and technological innovation and wealth.<<

>>Add to that moron academic interference.<<

No it isn't. It it is not about the Government or academia or affluence or the machines or the media or society. It is about personal choice. I could go on at length but as a wise man once said: a youtube video speaks a thousand words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4YZiKbklAE

Cheers,

Tony

As a teenager I suffered from anorexia and I think that Perth's obsession with models via the West Australian newspaper is far more offensive and damaging than the obesity campaign. The West Australian regularly celebrates the latest 'WA modelling discovery' and places thin young girls on a pedestal. This glorification of female appearance is what should be attacked.

Add to that moron academic interference
Tony Lavis,
Well, it's not your average Joe who tells us milk is good & a moment later states the opposite.
It's not average Joe who chops & changes re what's good/bad for our kids. 999 times out of a 1000 an academic has his finger in the pie of policy development, now look at where we are.

Thanks Lydia for calling attention to such an important issue. I'm a Sydney based clinical psychologist with a practice specializing in treating people with disordered eating as well as people struggling with weight issues. I participated in the National Eating Disorders Collaboration where we discussed the importance of making sure that the government's obesity campaigns didn't end up causing eating disorders. All of the experts were in agreement that (1) dieting greatly increases the risk of people developing eating disorders and (2) doesn't work in the long term. People can be healthy and treat themselves well regardless of their body size. Sadly this message appears to have been ignored by the obesity camp. I hope that this attention will lead to a withdrawal of such an unhelpful message.

This is partially a comment I have posted an another page regarding this article: I'd just like to add to the discussion by informing about people whose psychiatric medicications have the side effect of putting on weight. Many of these medications have a common side effect of increased appetite and weight gain. Hard to believe this advertisement was prepared by informed health professionals. Actually, forget 'hard to believe' and insert 'shameful'. Nothing like contributing to double stigmatisation. This ignorance needs to be addressed publicly and someone held responsible. Thank you Lydia Turner for your article and for initiating discussion and awareness regarding this. It takes courage to speak out and it's not always easy. I'm grateful to you.

Thank you for the very interesting article. Can you give some tips about how to discuss this issue with young girls who believe that anyone overweight is to blame for that and should "just eat less and exercise more". My daughter and her best friend are very dismissive of anyone who has a weight problem. Since the best friend's father (a widower) is considering remarrying a lady who carries a lot of weight, this is particularly cogent.
Previously, I have had to ban the girls from playing Biggest Loser where they weighed themselves before and after exercise and temptation games.

>>Can you give some tips about how to discuss this issue with young girls who believe that anyone overweight is to blame for that and should "just eat less and exercise more".<<

Obviously you should tell them that the soundly established scientific theory that more calories consumed than calories burnt is wrong: just a story invented to demonise fat people. You should tell them that diet and exercise have no relation to weight gain and that fat people are just as likely to have achieved their body shape through jogging and veganism as they to have achieved it through sitting and pies - and that slim people are just as likely to have achieved their body shape with visits to Maccas as with visits to the gym.

You will be telling them a big fat lie of course. And a dangerous one at that. But if you tell them the truth - that people gain fat when they eat more joules than they burn off and lose fat when they burn off more joules than they eat - then they might put two and two together and realise that fat people are fat because they choose to be fat. And we couldn't have that could we?

Cheers,

Tony