Analysis of Advertisements Depicting Child Obesity

As societies grow and lifestyles change, many issues and problems also seem to take a larger size than ever. Obesity is one of these seriously overwhelming questions. Child obesity in particular seems to be quite dangerous due to the many complications it usually leads to. This is a condition where a lot of extra body fat impacts child’s health. Statistics show that 25% of boys and 33% of girls between the ages of 2 to 19 suffer from obesity. Obesity is the result of many factors such as physical inactivity, unhealthy eating habits, genetic factors and medical conditions. Overweight kids end up with many complications like high cholestrole levels, high blood pressure, early heart diseases, diabetes and bone problems. Since this is such a big problem, many awareness campaigns have been launched to raise people’s awareness of the seriousness of not fighting it. The media play a significant role in combatting such problem. The above two ads are examples of such media campaigns. The first one shows an obese young girl about the age 10 or 11. She’s standing with her hands across her chest looking very serious or even upset. Across the ad there’s a big text reading “Warning: It’s hard to be a little girl if you arent”. The second ad shows four young overweight children also looking serious and upset. Below each child’s photo is a warning sign. The ad picturing the four kids is more effective than the one with one girl as it uses stronger persuasive techniques to appeal to the audience.

Both ads use different techniques to make a strong emotional appeal to the intended audience. The dull colors used by the first ad designer create feelings of both unhappiness and fear. Moreover, the usage of the human figure has proved quite success...

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... the second ad. The statement blaming “big meals” for the problem indirectly blames the parents for providing such meals, and thus creates this inevitable guilt. It’s also unethical to cause your kids early death - “may not outlive their parents” - through your selfish inconsideration of their health issues. Here, too, the second ad proves more effective in making a strong ethical appeal.

Finally, both ads alert the society to the peoblem of child obesity and call for action to prevent it. Both attempt to appeal to the audience’s reason, emotions and ethics, yet the second one seems to use human figures and text in a richer way, thus sending a stronger message. Since obesity is such a pressing serious problem, more and more efforts should be exerted to combat it through different institutions to both raise people’s awareness and to take serious action to prevent it.