There is a controversial new ad campaign being rolled out geared towards overweight parents in an effort to get a handle on childhood obesity. It is no secret that children have an increased risk of being overweight or obese if they have an overweight or obese parent. The general feeling is if we can get parents to take a more active role with their own health including a healthier diet, childhood obesity might be cut in half.

The main reason these new ads are raising eyebrows is because they basically shame parents into realizing their children are copying their unhealthy habits and the people in the ads become embarrassed.

It should be noted that there are many people in this world who are bigger, but have a healthy diet and exercise regularly, yet carry around a few extra pounds. The parents in the two ads do not have healthy eating habits, which is by design for the ad.

Obviously, we have a problem in this society and steps like the large soda ban in New York are being taken to battle obesity. It all comes down to personal responsibility and making healthier choices for yourself. As far as childhood obesity goes, children do tend to follow what they see and maybe if more parents work harder on making better choices, their children will follow suit.

To that end, I understand where these ads are coming from, I'm just not sure that embarrassing people and calling them out publicly is a good idea. How will children react to seeing their parents being ridiculed? These ads could have the opposite effect as well. Time will tell. See both ads below that were put by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota then take the poll below the videos.

 

 

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