Darren Powell: Anti-obesity scare tactics 'do more harm than good'

Sports stars rally to fight obesity as part of a new high profile public awareness campaign. Image / supplied

The government has unveiled its latest 'part of the solution' to childhood obesity, an advertising campaign that includes a star-studded cast of sportspeople with a raft of messages that supposedly 'encourage' families to make healthier choices.

On the surface, these public service announcements appear to be relatively benign. However, once you scratch beneath the surface, a number of troubling messages emerge that contradict the golden rule of health promotion: 'First, do no harm'.

One advertisement features Olympian Valerie Adams and a montage of images depicting families sharing pies, pizza, cakes and chips. Adams confidently informs children and parents: "We feed our families because we love them - to show them we care. But we're feeding them too much food. And too much junk. So some of our kids could end up living shorter lives than their parents. We're giving our families too much love."

You may have heard this 'living shorter lives than their parents' line before. In fact, this idea has been so regularly regurgitated by politicians and health experts alike, that scholar Michael Gard refers to it in his book The End of the Obesity Epidemic as the "life expectancy sound-bite". Helen Clark mentioned it in 2006. Jamie Oliver discussed it in his 2010 TED talk. And Jonathan Coleman repeated it just last month at the launch of the Childhood Obesity Plan.

What's the problem with this message? Critically, the notion that "kids could end up living shorter lives than their parents" is woefully misleading and is not strongly supported by scientific evidence. Gard's analysis of the origins and accuracy of the sound-bite is summarised as follows: "The idea of children dying en masse younger then their parents does not appear to owe its origins to a published research paper, flawed or otherwise".

So why is the government reproducing this life expectancy sound-bite as though it were fact? At best, it may merely be a naïve piece of health promotion propaganda. At worst though, this campaign is a socially irresponsible and deliberate attempt to scaremonger; a play on people's fear of fatness that not only endeavours to demonise parents and pathologise children, but socially engineer a nation of fat-phobic fat-haters and fat-shamers.

Not only are these types of scare tactics largely ineffective in changing bodies and behaviours, they risk damaging children's well-being. New Zealand-based research has demonstrated that a number of our youth - from toddlers to teenagers - are already overly worried, anxious and dissatisfied with their health, their eating, and their bodies.

I know from my research that a fear of fatness preoccupies the minds of many primary school girls and boys. And unfortunately, some of these young people take the quest to 'be healthy' (i.e. to not be fat) too far.

I fear this advertising campaign will just add to the growing concerns that children already have about their appearance, weight, eating, exercise and health. Having the government and its trusted celebrities tell children that the pies, cakes and other yummy food that their parents provide them could actually kill them is far from healthy. This public health campaign may do more harm than good.

Putting the idea into parent's heads that they may be slowly killing their children by feeding them pies and cakes - by loving them 'too much' - is also dangerous. There are many parents on low incomes that constantly struggle to get food on the table. Adding to their feelings of guilt and stress by telling them that the food they can afford to lovingly give to their children is now a sign of 'too much love' - and may lead to premature death - is hardly going to help these parents.

Mothers, so often the providers of food in household, are yet again targeted as both a cause of and solution to obesity. The responsibility for the health of young people is transferred further away from the government and the private sector, and back onto the shoulders of parents and children, just as the blame for children's ill-health or fat bodies is too.

Rather than accept this overly simplistic and potentially harmful public health campaign, I encourage parents and children to continue to challenge the key messages. It is really that unhealthy to eat pizza during 'Family Movie Night'? Or eat chips and sausage rolls at a party? Can't people be both fat and healthy? Can you love your children too much? And is it okay for the government to tell you and your children that feeding them certain foods is going to kill them? As the saying goes: 'Let them eat cake!'

Dr Darren Powell is a lecturer in health education at the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland.