Have you been reading hullabaloo about this campaign against obesity in Georgia? It is absolutely digusting.
Pearmama likens it to
"fat-shaming" and that is exactly what it is. How can everyone be up in arms about bullying with anti-bullying campaigns all over the place, and then be ok with this? What is this, if not bullying? Do these children want to be the poster-children for obesity. Is the little girl going to be at school and get shoved into her locker for being "that fat girl on tv"? I hate to say this, but human beings are already capable of being horrible without the government's permission. Kids already pick on the fat kids. Now when they are in trouble, they can just point at the commercials and billboards to show where they learned it from.
Here's my thought on overweight children. Are they unhealthy? I don't care how much they weigh. Do they go outside and play? Can they run around a bit like kid's do? Then who gives a crap that they're bigger than other kids. Some adults are bigger than other adults. Some kids go through puberty before others. We come in all shapes and sizes. I thought that is the message we are trying to get across to kids - we are all created equal. Unless you're fat, then you're disgusting and worthy of being made a mockery of. Is that the message we want to send to them?
Let's compare these two kids.
Child A - This child was considered "skinny. She ate whatever she wanted, mostly things that weren't healthy, and weight was never an issue. She didn't go outside and play any sports. She spent most of her time inside reading a book.
Child B - This child by today's standards would be considered a "fat" kid. He was bigger than most of the other kids. Meanwhile, he played every sport he could and spent most of his time outside running around. He ate (mostly) nutritious meals.
Which kid is healthier? Well according to Georgia, Child A (that's me by the way) is. Any doctor would tell you that Child B (my husband) was definitely healthier.
As a parent, I would much rather my child looked like one of the "fat" kids and yet was active and ate well.
Anyway, that's my 2 cents on how I find the Georgia Anti-Obesity campaign to be completely disgusting and counter-productive. What do you think?
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Child A - This child was considered "skinny. She ate whatever she wanted, mostly things that weren't healthy, and weight was never an issue. She didn't go outside and play any sports. She spent most of her time inside reading a book.
I actually hopped on to comment on your above falafal post (which I will do in a minute), but then I saw the one underneath and it brought tears to my eyes. I hope never never to see something like this in Australia. These are children!!!! Very sad and very shameful - not for the children who are depicted, but the adults who have thought this was a good idea. I completely agree with you. It is outrageous and disgusting. I hope this gets closed down soon. Those poor children and the parents.
ReplyDeleteKids are cruel regarding anyone that is different...larger, smaller, loud, shy, tall, short, or just because it is the day to pick on them. This campaign was made up by those same intolerant kids. This is a knee jerk reaction to a problem but to treat children like this ... There is no excuse.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is built just like her aunt and grandmother...a bit on the larger side. She is comfortable in her own skin. Yet when she went to our local health department for an immunization, the nurse there treated her like she had some contagious disease and told my daughter that she knew my daughter was not happy with herself! This woman did not know my daughter! My kiddo informed her that she was happy and didn't know why she would say such a thing. The nurse acted shocked that she was happy. Why make kids feel bad when they are just trying to be kids?
Thanks for stopping by. It is absolutely shameful the way these ads are displayed. It makes me sick.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I don't know what I'd do if a nurse or doctor tried to make my child feel bad for the way that they looked. I would probably not be nice.
It really is a bizarre ad campaign.
ReplyDelete