Slimming America’s waistline: Are we fighting obesity or obese people?

With over two thirds of Americans now overweight or obese, public health campaigns have emerged across the country to promote behavior that can help reduce America's waistline. But do the messages communicated by these campaigns help reduce obesity or potentially make the problem worse? According to a new study by the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale, the public responds more favorably to obesity-related health campaigns that emphasize specific health behaviors and personal empowerment for health, rather than messages that imply personal blame and stigmatize those who are obese. The study, which appears in the International Journal of Obesity, is the first to systematically assess public perceptions of anti-obesity public health campaigns, and suggests that certain types of messages may lead to increased motivation for behavior change while others do not. Researchers conducted an online experimental study with a national sample of 1041 Americans. Participants viewed campaign messages from national and highly publicized public health campaigns to address obesity. They were asked to rate characteristics of each campaign as positive or negative and state whether they felt motivated to improve their health or stigmatized by the campaign's message. Campaigns rated most favorable and motivating were messages that promoted specific health behaviors, such as increased fruit and vegetable consumption promoted by the national "5-A-Day" campaign; more general health messages such as the First Lady's "Let's Move" campaign which encourages Americans to "Learn the facts, eat healthy, get active, take action"; and campaigns that attempted to instill confidence and personal empowerment regarding one's health.