Editorial: No double down fuss is fat lot of good

Tried  the new KFC Double Down burger yet?
That's the one with so much burger there's no room for a bun. Or something like that.
It's also, if you're of a certain political leaning, a symbol of personal freedom and choice.
Or, if you're more health conscious, a sign of everything that's wrong with the way we eat.
Yesterday, it seems like KFC couldn't make the burgers fast enough for customers keen to show they weren't fazed by a paltry 32 grams of fat.
The whole fuss over the no-bun-burger only seems to prove that if you tell people they shouldn't have something, they want it even more.
Which is why banning unhealthy food, or even making it more expensive, won't work.
But given the huge public health cost of obesity and poor diets, I don't understand why we haven't become more sophisticated about public messages on healthy eating.
Campaigns around drink-driving, seatbelts, family violence and smoking have been successful in changing attitudes, but those shaping the messages about diet don't seem to have learned any lessons from them.
For smokers, the advertising features ordinary people who are themselves quitting smoking, people smokers can relate to. And they're accompanied by a package of subsidised nicotine patches, gum and a support phone-line.
A recent healthy-eating campaign featured cyclist Sarah Ulmer passing on such helpful tips as apples are better than muffins, and sandwiches better than sausage rolls.
What do the nutrition needs of a top athlete have to do with ordinary families trying to manage their grocery bill? How can people who are struggling with their weight possibly relate to Sarah Ulmer?
Top cyclists could probably eat a couple of Double Downs for breakfast, and burn them off with a warm-up ride.
It's easy to see why people took no notice.
But with no more marketing than the finger-wagging of a few nutritionists, fatty, salty, bun-less burgers are flying out the door.