TAC-style ads to fight kids' obesity

Shock tactics for fat

Posted: 19 February 2008

From the Herald Sun, 19th February 2008

HEALTH experts have called for a TAC-style campaign to tackle childhood obesity and shock parents into action.

The Herald Sun revealed yesterday that Melbourne hospitals were being swamped by obese children, with some being treated for type 2 diabetes, a disease previously associated only with overweight adults.

Deakin University population health chair Boyd Swinburn yesterday called for the establishment of an independent organisation to help address the children's health crisis.

He said the body needed to be independent from government, but well-funded so it could properly research how to drum home messages about the importance of diet and exercise.

"It needs to be an organisation that is prepared to take the risks in getting some hard-hitting messages out there," Prof Swinburn said.

"To say: 'Don't drink this stuff because it rots your kid's teeth and makes them fat' -- that would be a tough set of messages for a government to put out.

"They might tramp on some commercial toes."

The Herald Sun and the Royal Children's Hospital have teamed up to combat childhood obesity.

The official Kids' Food Plan will be published in the Herald Sun each Monday over the next month.

This week's plan can be accessed at heraldsun.com.au

Prof Swinburn said Quit was a good example because its campaigns were supported by government policy, but its actions were out of the hands of politicians.

He said the first Quit ads were "pretty graphic".

Rob Moodie, professor of global health at the University of Melbourne's Nossal Institute, supported the idea of a TAC-style campaign to start behavioural change.

But he agreed the campaign needed to be backed by government policy and programs.

"It's not a single shot that works, it has to be a decision by the government and the community together," he said. "It's a collective change."