Preventing Childhood Obesity - Evidence Policy and Practice.pdf

Chapter 23
• Make a practical appeal. Public health policies are
usually much more effective at changing behavior
than education alone. If you can demonstrate that
they are also cost - effective, particularly in the short -
term, that is also beneficial and worth highlighting.
Outline how the policy will address the basic cause
of the problem and how it will save money, enhance
productivity, save lives or protect children.
• Counter the food and advertising industry
frames. It is necessary to develop media frames to
counter those of the opposition, and counter messaging
is essential with an adversarial issue such as
overweight and obesity. A number of common
arguments are used by adversaries in the debate
such as: “ Parents are responsible for overseeing their
children ’ s health, particularly their diet ” ; “ Obesity
prevention is complex and there is still a lot of
debate about what causes it ” ; “ There is no evidence
that food marketing is the cause of the problem or
that bans on marketing are the cure ” ; “ There are no
good or bad foods, just good or bad diets ” ;
“ Individual responsibility is the key to the problem,
not a heavy - handed nanny state ” .
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• Use media bites. These are short quotes which
reporters find so appealing that they want to use
them in their stories. Ideally, they provide a simplifying
concept for the policy objective, they grab the
attention of a journalist and gain access to a news
story and they help frame the issues that points
towards the policy objective. Once the media outlets
have worked up the background for the story, they
will look for quotes to best illustrate a particular
aspect. This will often take the form of about 15
seconds in a television story, a few sentences in an
article or a one - sentence grab for radio. They need
to be short and sharp so that they succinctly frame
the issue, for example: self - regulation of junk food
marketing by the advertising and media industry is
“ like leaving the fox in charge of the hen house ” ;
decisions not to regulate junk food marketing are
“ putting corporate wealth ahead of children ’ s
health ” ; high sugar breakfast cereals are “ confectionery
dressed up as breakfast cereal ” . 27
Conclusion
Advocacy is an essential driver of meaningful change
for obesity prevention. Developing a plan of action
starts with a critical understanding of the problem and
the solutions, identifying those who are involved with
the issue, recognizing the policies related to the issue
(either implemented or not), the organizations
engaged with it, and the channels (including the
media) that will provide access to those who make
decisions, or can influence decisions.
Many countries have published expert reports,
which outline the problem of overweight and obesity,
along with potential solutions. These recommendations
have no force unless they are implemented,
which will not happen without advocacy. The public
health community must acknowledge and recognize
the important role that advocacy plays in the prevention
of overweight and obesity. As experts, those
engaged in the issue make credible spokespeople, have
links to the research and evidence for obesity prevention,
and are in a position to encourage others to join
up and support change.
More critically, industries that may be threatened
by policies and regulation to prevent obesity are,
themselves, actively engaged in lobbying to ensure
that their views are heard and that their economic and
other contributions are recognized and supported.
The alternative views on protecting the health and
wellbeing of children need to be communicated and
promoted to both decision makers and to the wider
community. Without this action, effective policies
that challenge the status quo are unlikely to be implemented
and the epidemic will continue to escalate
unchecked.
References
1 The Lancet . Editorial —The catastrophic failures of public
health . Lancet 2004 ; 363 : 745 .
2 Lang T , Rayner g : Overcoming policy cacophony on obesity:
an ecological public health frameworke for policymakers .
Obes Rev 2007 ; 8 (Suppl. 1 ):165 –181 .
3 World Health Organization : Development Communication
in Action. Report of the Inter - agency Meeting on Advocacy
Strategies for Health and Development. HED/92.5 . Geneva.
WHO, 1995 .
4 Chapman S , Lupton D : The Fight for Public Health:
Principles and Practice of Media Advocacy . London : BMJ
Publishing Group , 1994 .
5 UK Government Office for Science : Tackling Obesities:
Future Choices —Project Report , 2nd edn . London : UK
Government Foresight Programme, Government Office for
Science , 2007 .
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