Anti-Obesity Public Health Campaigns:

Irresponsible Messages from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine?

Rebecca Puhl, PhD, Director of Research at the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University

In the past year we've seen an increasing number of anti-obesity public health campaigns emerge, some of which have received national media attention. While many of these have positive intentions and aim to improve public health, it has been dismaying to see how often these intentions are misguided, and instead instill shame and stigma towards the very people they intend to target. An organization that has recently come under criticism for promoting stigmatizing messages is the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM). In January, PCRM launched a billboard campaign warning that cheese consumption leads to obesity. Their billboards featured bare stomachs and thighs/buttocks of obese individuals with the captions "Your Abs on Cheese" and "Your Thighs on Cheese", which were clearly intended to evoke reactions of disgust. While cheese (and many other foods) may contribute to obesity if over-consumed, there is no need to portray obese persons in a stigmatizing manner in order to communicate this message. This pro-vegan organization has since launched a new campaign, this time a commercial promoting a new "Sit Next to a Vegan" option that they recently proposed to American Airlines. The proposal gives passengers an option to reserve the seat next to them for a vegan (who is presumed to be thinner), so that they don't have to sit next to an obese passenger. In the commercial, two passengers are portrayed, each in the aisle seats of a plane. One passenger chose the “Sit Next to a Vegan” option for a small fee and ends up getting to sit beside a thin, attractive female who easily fits in her seat. The other, who didn’t choose this option, gets squeezed by an overweight passenger who intrudes on his space. A voice-over explains, “For a small $10 charge, we’ll save you a seat next to a vegan. You’ll have all the room that you want".  These tactics and messages are highly stigmatizing to individuals who are overweight or obese. It is counterproductive and inappropriate to stigmatize people because of their weight. If the PCRM is truly interested in promoting veganism, public health, or reducing obesity, they should use messages that support and empower obese persons to become healthier rather than instilling shame and stigma towards them. Attempting to promote veganism with the use of fat jokes and stigma is inappropriate, and irresponsible - especially coming from medical experts. As we have observed from many research studies, when individuals feel blamed, stigmatized, or shamed about their weight, they are more likely (not less likely) to engage in unhealthy eating behaviors and avoidance of physical activity, both of which can reinforce weight gain and impair weight loss efforts. Stigma is simply not an appropriate or effective way to motivate weight loss or healthy eating behaviors.  As more and more anti-obesity campaigns are emerging in the mainstream national news and media, it is becoming increasingly apparent that there is a need for specific guidelines to ensure that these campaigns promote specific health behaviors to improve public health without stigmatizing and shaming people affected by obesity.

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