MODULE: Public Health in Century 21
REPORT: Critique of a recent newspaper article related to Public Health
WORD COUNT: 500
The following essay will explain why a recent newspaper article has been raised as a public health issue, and the effect the content has on the reader.
The newspaper article, ‘Parents told to fat check their children’ (Iggulden and Goodchild, 2007) raises the public health issue of obesity. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidance on obesity in adults and children in December 2006, recognising obesity is a complex problem in the twenty first century (NICE, 2006).
The underlying message the article is trying to communicate is that schools are looking to become health-supporting environments (Scriven and Garman, 2007). The article has targeted parents of school age children, using an authoritarian tone, this can be seen from the first words in the tile, ‘Parents told to’. The article has used metaphors of war to represent obesity. Words such as ‘war on obesity’, ‘crisis’ and ‘threatens the health of a generation’ are all part of a fear appeal (Earle et al, 2007). At present, it is almost impossible to pick up a daily paper without being exposed to headlines featuring words such as ‘time-bomb’ or the present generation of children will die before their parents (Marsh, 2004).The news article is implying responsibility is with the parents, stating, ‘parents can no longer tell if children are fat because being overweight is the norm’. The media have been responsible for perpetuating the myth that obesity and overweight are not just medical conditions but moral problems (Earle et al, 2007). There is a long cultural history of the association between fatness and morality and the responsibility of families, especially mothers for food and health (Gard and Wright, 2005 as cited in Earle, 2007).
