A critical essay on the policies that have been used to tackle obesity

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Student No: 051605054

Module: LB3003 Managing the Publics’ Health

Aston University

Date: 19/12/2008

Title: A critical essay on the policies that have been used to tackle obesity

Introduction

   In the UK, projections suggest that by 2025 40% of the population will be classed as ‘obese’ and by 2050 it will increase to 60%. This alarming statistic is concluded in a report produced by the UK government published Tackling Obesities: Future Choices – Modelling Future Trends in Obesity and the Impact on Health (UK Government’s Foresight Programme, 2008).

Obesity is an issue that has garnered attention for years because of the detrimental effect it has in society. The impact of the policies that have been implemented over the years is highly controversial and disputed. The reason being the complexity of the causes and drivers of obesity, and how to combat it presents many challenges to politicians, individuals, epidemiologists and other policy decision –makers. Epidemiology is ‘the branch of medicine that deals with the study of the causes, distribution, and control of disease in populations’ (Oxford English Dictionary: 132). 

  At the start of the paper, there is an examination of the policies that have been executed by the UK government, in order to ease the burden that obesity is having, on not only for the National Health Service (NHS), but the activities we carry out in our day-to-day lives. To what extent has these policies has helped to reduce the problem of obesity? What kind of role should the government play to tackle obesity? The research gathered in this essay is narrowed down to policies associated with child obesity and healthy living. The information contained in this paper has been gathered from various secondary sources including books, journals, newspapers and articles from the Internet. The final part of this paper draws some conclusions about the policies implemented by the government and the role in which they have played.

What is obesity?

   Referring to a document produced by the House of Parliament, published Childhood Obesity  (Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, 2003), obesity ‘is a condition where weight gain has got to the point that it poses a serious threat to health’ (ibid: 1).  To classify an individual to be ‘obese’ is determined by their Body Mass Index (BMI). A value of 30 or more would put an individual in this category. A study by the National Audit Office (NAO), had estimated that the cost of treating obesity in the NHS in 1998 was £1/2 billion (NAO Tackling Obesity in England, 2001). With obesity set to rise in the near future, as mentioned at the start of the paper, public health expenditure is likely to rise simultaneously. As a result, the UK government considers obesity a higher priority, then ever before.

  The idea of shock tactics

   In a recent study carried out by the Department of Health (DH), they concluded that the public do not consider foods that are unhealthy, to actually be unhealthy. Moreover, the research also found that people are repulsed with the idea of fat tissue building around their organs (Templeton, 2008). These two findings are stated in a recent article published in the Sunday Times entitled Anti-obesity drive to use shock tactics.

     An individual reading the article may question, not only the conclusions but also the methodology in which the data was gathered. There is no mention of how the research was collected. For instance, what method of research (primary/secondary) is used? Which type(s) of people (children, middle-aged, over 60s) was the research focused on? On the contrary, this article is published in a newspaper, hence the writer’s goal is to simply to provide quick, clear and concise information, in regards to the most recent anti-obesity campaign being executed by the government. Therefore, she will provide results of the study, to attract and maintain the reader’s interest, rather then including data the reader may find mundane.

    In this article, Templeton states that Change4Life will incorporate ‘this insight in its adverts to show the public that body fat is putting it at risk of serious illness’ (ibid). Change4Life is a project ‘which aims to improve children’s diets and levels of activity’ (). The DH strongly supports this initiative. Change4Life attempts to exploit this, and influence its marketing strategy, with the use of shock tactics. There is evidence to suggest that this device is ineffective. This type of marketing is being used to tackle smoking; the results show that anti-smoking adverts have had very little impact influencing the public. In an article called ‘Do these adds work? Or have shock tactics made us too numb to care?’(Marsh, 2004). She states that ‘the government has failed to make an impact on many Britons, despite pouring £59 million into anti-smoking.’ Since, shock tactics are being used more often, the public aren’t as receptive to them. Research carried out by OMD Snapshots, illustrates that images has no influence on people whether they donate money to charities. ‘Out of 1,097 people asked whether they were shocked by the images, 62.5% said they were not’ (ibid).

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   However, returning to Templeton’s article she presents evidence, to the contrary, to suggest that shock tactics can influence people. M&C Saatchi, a marketing firm, which has designated responsibility in designing obesity adverts. This organisation had gathered research, on the impact of shock tactics. The conclusions drawn from this study suggests that the use of graphic imagery provokes a reaction from individuals. An image, with the intention to shock or scare, actually does influence an individual. (Templeton,2008 ).

Working with food associated companies

  As part of this strategy, the government has managed to influence major companies, which supply ...

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