California Obesity Campaign Digitally Fattened Child: 'Hateful,' Say Fat Acceptance Advocates (VIDEO)
A California obesity campaign promoted their fight against child obesity with ads showing a young girl with chunky cheeks seemingly sipping sugar from a straw. However, once it was discovered that the organization behind the campaign digitally altered the photo to fatten the girl, some-- especially advocates of fat acceptance-- were upset.
The California obesity campaign ads were commissioned by First 5 California, which aims to decrease child obesity and encourage healthy eating options for youth. They took a picture of a little, normal-sized girl on their website and made her look much bigger through photoshop.
"Nurture and protect our most precious resource- our children," the ads, which are posted throughout California, read. "Sugary drinks like juice, sports drinks and soda can cause obesity. Choose milk and water instead."
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The campaign prompted a reaction from Marilyn Wann, who works as an advocate of fat acceptance and wrote "FAT!SO?: Because You Don't Have to Apologize for Your Size." She claims that the ads were "hateful" and posted the doctored photo alongside the regular one on her Tumblr.
"Children deserve to be protected from this kind of damaging fearmongering. (And from creepy Photoshopping!)," she wrote. "It was so mindblowingly hateful that I Photoshopped them together and posted them on Facebook and on Tumblr."
"How creepy is it to Photoshop this child in this manner? If public health messages lie like this, why should people trust them?" she added on her Facebook page.
However, the controversy surrounding the ad is just what First 5 wanted- now that people are talking about it, a dialogue can start. Furthermore, the organization refused to apologize for their blatant altering of the photo, saying the ends justify the means.
"This campaign serves to educate parents … on the realities and dangers of childhood obesity and get them to change their behaviors by buying and offering their children milk and water instead," Lindsay VanLaningham, a First 5 spokeswoman, told ABC News. The average 4- or 5-year-old is consuming 65 pounds of sugar a year, she added, which comes mostly from sugary drinks.
Of the ad, "it's no surprise people are outraged," Adweek reporter Emma Bazilian told ABC, but the organization didn't have many other options, according to her. A Children's Healthcare of Atlanta used real overweight children in their ads in a similar attempt to curb the Georgia obesity epidemic in children, but it backfired.
"If you use real kids, you're going to be called fat-shamers," Bazilian said. "On the other hand, if you take this kid and you Photoshop them, it's really a no-win situation."
