CONFRONTING new advertisements aimed at shocking people into a healthier lifestyle will only work if they are consistent, long lasting and supported by tough legislation.
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The ads, warning against “toxic fat’’, have been splashed across newspapers and television for the past couple of days.
They are a joint effort between Cancer Council Victoria and the Heart Foundation and they are funded by the state government.
Like the graphic anti-smoking ads we have become used to, the advertisements are not pleasant to look at and deliberately aim to shock people into action.
This type of approach has been shown to work with smoking, skin cancer and also with the road toll although there is evidence to suggest that the shock factor fades after a while and therefore the message gets lost.
Health minister David Davis is hoping that the LiveLighter campaign will result in real and measurable positive effects and while they are a welcome step in the right direction a lot more will need to be done before the battle against the modern scourge of obesity has been won.
Some would argue that it may already be too late and with about two thirds of Victorian falling into overweight or obese categories and they may be right.
But we must not stop trying.
It took decades to convince people of the dangers of smoking and it will take a long time to persuade people that over-eating is equally as a big a killer as tobacco.
Changes to lifestyle, a radical shake-up of community attitudes and new laws to restrict unfettered advertising for unhealthy foods and drink will take time, but simply has to happen.
Everyone has a right to make a bad choice in life, but it’s hard not to when crap is cleverly dressed up as desirable by clever marketeers and advertising experts.
Until governments have the courage to take on the food giants, ad campaigns like this latest one will have a limited impact.