Controversial ads feature overweight children

Experts are divided over a new ad featuring children talking about their obesity. 

The campaign, called Strong4Life, is running in Georgia, according to TIME magazine. In one ad, an overweight girl's is featured with the following text: "WARNING: It's hard to be a little girl if you're not."  In another, a boy asks his mom, "Why am I fat?"

It was produced by Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.  A senior VP there said there are no plans to pull the ad and so far 85 percent of people who've seen the ads have a positive reaction.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution says Georgia has the second-highest obesity rate in the country.

Rebecca Puhl, the director of research at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity quoted in TIME says the ads only make the problem worse.  She said when people feel stigma or shame it only reinforces their bad behavior. 

Some say the ads would be more effective if they also contained advice.  Others say the ads address the "elephant in the room," and when people feel uncomfortable that's when change comes. 

Ann Davis, an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Kansas Hospital says, "(My) first thing is concern for children.  Even though the ads are coming from the perspective of children, I still worry about them being stigmatized."

"To me that is the only redeeming factor about these ads is they could help to sound alarm bells," Davis added.

Davis said 17 percent of children in Kansas are obese and that the numbers are similar in Missouri.

She said it's tough to convince parents that obesity is a problem and that their children need treatment.

Obesity can lead to a range of medical and mental health problems, including diabetes, sleep apnea and even orthopedic complications.  Davis said some children even require knee replacement surgery.

Davis said there are several free programs for overweight and obese children in the Kansas City metro, including  Healthy Hawks at KU Hospital, Fit Kids and Zoom to Health at Children's Mercy.