Ragen Chastain Launches 'Support All Kids' Campaign To Counter Georgia Anti-Obesity Ads

After a series of controversial anti-obesity billboards and TV spots began appearing in Atlanta, writer and activist Ragen Chastain felt compelled to take action.

The ads that caught her attention, produced by Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the Strong4Life campaign, carry stark copy such as "It’s hard to be a little girl if you’re not" and "Fat kids become fat adults" and tell Georgians to "stop sugarcoating" childhood obesity. They have also sparked a heated national debate about how to best protect the health of Georgia’s youth. This month, Chastain launched "Support All Kids," a campaign to counter the messages in the original ads, which she says do more harm than good. (Scroll down to view the original campaign.)

Chastain says that the "stop sugarcoating" billboards, which feature overweight children, shame fat kids -- and do not encourage them to make healthier choices. "You can’t hate kids healthy," she told The Huffington Post. Chastain took to her blog, Dances With Fat, and asked for donations so she could create new posters and billboards to place around Atlanta offering a message of health and positivity for kids of all sizes.

Her initial goal was to raise $5,000, and the organization More of Me to Love agreed to match that. Within seven hours of Chastain's posting the call for donations, which she did through a Kickstarter-like site called Go Fund Me, $7,000 was raised. After eight days, the "Support All Kids" initiative had pulled in $21,700 -- enough to pay for a large billboard, several smaller ones and an assortment of posters, which Chastain aims to have up by the third week of March. (Scroll down to see the potential designs for these billboards.) "I was sitting at my computer and was completely blown away by the amount of support we were getting," she said.

And it's not just grassroots activists who have protested the tactics of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Organizations such as the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa, the Binge Eating Disorder Association and the National Eating Disorder Association came out against the Strong4Life campaign, as did Kaiser Permanente. Several prominent health experts, such as the National Institutes of Health's Alan Guttmacher and the director for the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute, Dr. Miriam Labbok, also voiced concerns about the ads. A letter from Guttmacher, obtained by the BBC, says the Strong4Life campaign "carries a great risk of increasing stigma," which "can reinforce unhealthy behaviors" and "poses risks to the psychological health" of overweight children.

But Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta maintains that the campaign has done exactly what the organization intended in starting a necessary conversation about childhood obesity.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta released the following statement about Chastain’s campaign to The Huffington Post:

We designed the awareness phase of our ad campaign to ignite a much-needed conversation around childhood obesity, and we’ve done just that. As evidenced by the fat activists, it is difficult for some to accept the health risks associated with obesity in children. In a recent study we conducted in Atlanta only 28 percent of parents of an obese child considered their child overweight or obese. And so they fail to see the associated health risks their own families face. That is why we had to do something that gets people talking about childhood obesity -- we cannot help anyone if people do not recognize the problem ... We believe all voices are an important part of this conversation, however we are committed to helping kids by stopping the cycle of ignoring the health risks associated with obesity.

About a month ago, one of the children appearing in the campaign, Chloe McSwain, 11, expressed in an interview feeling only positive about her participation. "I feel really good about myself," she said. "I have lots of self-confidence. [The campaign] is really supposed to help [kids] ... so they can get healthier."

Today childhood obesity affects triple the number of adolescents than it did a century ago. Georgia now has the nation’s second highest rate, topped only by Mississippi's.

But obesity -- and its potential health risks -- are complex issues that are not so easily solved by a one-line slogan. Childhood obesity is associated with a number of health problems, including Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol, sleep apnea and heart disease later in life, among others.

Recent research, however, seems to contradict the assumption that all fat people need to lose weight. A study released in August showed that obese people living with only minor health issues, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, could end up with the same life span as thin people. And a June Time magazine story noted that being thin doesn’t guarantee a clean bill of health.

Activists like Chastain support having a public health dialogue focused on behaviors rather than pounds. "I think that if we want to have a health conversation, we need to take weight out of it completely," she said. "Let’s provide [kids] access to healthy foods and safe movement options that they enjoy ... We can be role models for health, but only when we stop trying to be role models for thinness."

See the Strong4Life campaign's anti-obesity ads.

See the "Support All Kids" campaign's billboard designs.

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Comments

[Kendra Wende]

02:52 PM on 03/10/2012

While I think its wrong to shame a child for being overweight, something does need to be done about childhood obesity.
For those of you who say its too expensive to eat healthy : A large bag of potato chip is about 3.50. For that 3.50 you can go to the freezer section and buy three bags of frozen veggies, or a bag of apples for your family to snack on. It takes a little more effort than just buying whatever but its better than giving your kids a death sentence or condeming them to a life of getting picked on.

[thestarfish6393]

05:55 PM on 03/02/2012

campaigns like this are the reason the obesity problem in america isn't going to get any better. yes, these are nice for kids who are healthy and not stick thin, but an obese person (child OR adult) who ISN'T healthy can easily look at the second set of ads and be like "it's fine--i'm beautiful anyway, everyone else is just being mean" (even though i'm going to have a heart attack any day now)-- that's harmful. i mean look at the one with the giant unequal sign on it...the note's about "eat your veggies/play outside" are on the bottom. in TINY letters. what this campaign SHOULD do is have a message that REGARDLESS of your size you STILL can be healthier--maybe they should show 2 people with heart disease or sleep apnea, 1 who isn't morbidly obese and 1 who isn't and mention they both drastically need to change their eating habits.

this campaign is pretty ridiculous and overly sensitive tbh, i mean can you imagine if there was an anti-smoker-bullying campaign: "it's not my fault i have an addiction--i'm a person too. making me go outside isn't being respectful. STOP THE HATE." we would be nowhere near where we are now as far as cigarette awareness if people were so overly sensitive all the time.

[skylover]

10:24 AM on 02/27/2012

They should not be shaming the children, they should be shaming the parents.

[SaveWillowpark]

03:51 AM on 02/27/2012

Parents. Who buys the food? It is very interesting, the culture of processed food, sugar and macronutrients in our culture, our families. Our relationships are so closely tied with the foods that we eat and we're in such denial about what is really healthy for us. Fat people are starving to death. It's because the food that they are eating is so nutritionally deficient that their need to eat is never satiated; so they keep eating.

I feed my kids a plant based whole foods diet without processed food or sweeteners. Do they protest? Sometimes. Do I give into their requests for Captain Crunch? NEVER. We juice. We eat unlimited plant foods and fruits, berries, beans and lentils. We enjoy chocolate as a reward for all those healthy choices during the week. (to us that is one 70% cocao bar) Our kids are at ideal weights now.

Our family lost a combined 200 lbs. We continue to get stronger and healthier. We are vegan now and continue to juice and occasionally splurge on a piece of cheese pizza or bagel w/ cream cheese.

That may not be your answer. My point is, it is YOUR CHOICE what you feed your kids and you gotta figure it out because obtaining homeostasis in your body has to do with what you are putting in it.

[900]

11:35 AM on 02/26/2012

Education.... I have learned so much from Dr Oz about foods and good healthy alternatives. Teaching the children about healthy foods in school. Not just about the basic 4 food groups, but about why it is important to make healthy choice's. Teach them how much is too much.

I was called pleasingly plump,fatty snack ect... I hated it. I was very active and did more sports than my skinny sister and was better at skating, water and snow skiing. At age 12 weighed 100 lbs and a doctor told my mother if I did not loose 10 lbs in a week not to bother to bring me back. I was humiliated! I started to fear doctors.

All my adult life I starved myself in order to fit in and could never get down past a size 14 or 175lbs at 5'9. Worked out before and after work and unless I was starving myself (only eat one meal a day and that was a small salad) my weight would go up. I started to fear food!

At the age of 35 a doctor finally check my thyroid ( I had never heard of hypothyroid) and put me on 200mg and 300mg is the highest you can go. I lost weight with out having to starve myself anymore... Now I have to tell myself to eat...

All those years....All those names...... Children do not need to be humiliated, they need to be educated....

[900]

11:29 AM on 02/26/2012

Go into any grocery store and look what people have in their shopping carts.
It is not pretty. Families load their carts with bags and boxes of all kinds of cereals, breads, pizzas, mac & cheese , boxed- processed-microwavable-do not have to refridgerate-last a lifetime crap.
Why?
Because it is cheap.

I do not see alot of carts filled with fresh healthy fruits, vegetables, fish, chicken ect... It is expensive to eat healthy.

Lets face it all the tax in the world on junk food is not going to stop people from buying it
and shaming children is not the answer.

[Amie Nogrady]

12:43 AM on 02/26/2012

Mothers and their children were brought in for a study. Both Mom and child were obese in most of the pairs. Each were asked to pick a body shape that best fit themselves and the other. Mom was asked to estimate her child's weight and to guess whether they were under weight, normal weight, etc. The child was asked if Mom needed to lose weight in their own opinion. In that study, the Mom's were off by quite a bit when estimating their children's weight and chose the body shape that was dramatically smaller than their own. The child on the other hand not only chose the closest body shape but agreed that yes, his mom did need to lose weight nearly every time. The kids get it. The parents do not. You are not shaming the kids because you are not telling them some new secret information.

[WilliamL]

07:35 PM on 02/25/2012

The second set of adds are a mess-confusing, too wordy, too long-and like it or not, the first set works.

One certainly does not want to "shame" overweight kid and one has to be decent and kind about it but kids such as the ones in the posters will never be healthy at their weight despite what those running the second set of adds might like to think.

It is rough but the fact is that kids and adults that look as those in the photos are on a short road of life if they stay that way. Adults sd be included, a fat family perhaps, mother daughter holding hands as well-father son walking down the street. I don't see it so much as a hate and shame campaign but a fat reality campaign. Those who got so upset about the first campaign are lying to themselves if they think that one can be healthy and fat at the same time.

[kathleens]

03:38 PM on 02/25/2012

Shaming a fat kid is just plain mean, and there's really no up-side to it. Let's not forget that these kids don't go out and buy their own food. They've eaten what's been made available to them. Sometimes, that's what their parents have bought for them, and sometimes it's what the school cafeteria has provided for them.

Adults need to take charge here. When you don't make unhealthy food available to your children, they can't eat it. Stock your shelves with whole foods and healthy snacks, and that's what they'll eat. They don't really have any other choice.

[Kimberly Owsley]

05:56 PM on 03/03/2012

Right on. I am a person most skinny people would call fat, but I still eat salads all the time, when not eating salads I eat other healthy stuff, I would never give a kid skittles over raisins, etc. Skinny people would still consider me fat, but I know I'm HEALTHY. People who say a fat person can never be healthy is prejudiced and misinformed. Fat people shouldn't be shamed just for being what YOU consider "fat". If that fat person has a grocery cart full of hot dogs, boxed macaroni and cheese, twinkies and hohos -- YEAH, then you can look at that person and go "You really need to do better" but considering I see skinny people eating those same foods and having many of the same health problems for it, you still should simply suggest something better than trying to shame them into changing.

[QuickFire]

02:25 PM on 02/25/2012

As much as it sucks. This is the only real way to get parents and their overweight kids to get the point.

[FatVeganCommie]

02:17 PM on 02/25/2012

I have a great idea - let's extrapolate this effective campaign to 'open the dialogue' about kids that are stupid. We can have some billboards that say "I would have more fun if I wasn't such an idiot" with a picture of some stupid kid on it. I can't think of anything more inspiring to children for them to study harder or do better in school. Remember: "Stupid Kids Make Stupid Adults>"

[imanormalalien]

11:20 AM on 02/26/2012

actually, smarter kids tend to have less fun because the stupid kids pick on them

[Pippi-J]

01:29 PM on 02/25/2012

I worked with a severely obese 4 year old little boy (80 pounds at the age of 4) and his family. When we weighed the child, his mother thought he weighed about 35 pounds. She was shocked when we told her how much he weighed. When we did a home visit, she said he did not eat much sugar while he walked around the living room with a "juice" drink and candy in his pockets. She told us he ate healthy and that he would only eat McDonald's chicken nuggets. He was also develpmentally delayed and had the maturity level of a 2 year old. Hmmm, could it be related?

Talk about uneducated and in denial! We need to educate parents and not shame children. Children are what their parents give them to eat and rarely if ever, obesity is not the child's fault.

[FabulousPoodle]

06:00 AM on 02/25/2012

It's the 21st century. We talk about everything. Why won't we face up to the fact that obesity and sexual abuse go hand in hand? Whenever I see an overweight child I wonder who doesn't love her enough to protect her.

[nnyl]

10:21 PM on 02/26/2012

Not all young children who are overweight are sexual abused. Some don't get enough exercise and sit in front of video games or tv for hours. Some have parents who are clueless about nutrition and portion sizes. Three cups of cereal is not a serving. A pint of ice cream is not a serving.

[FabulousPoodle]

05:39 AM on 02/27/2012

Well, WHY are they retreating from life, WHY are they so out of touch with their own bodies that they're eating three bowls of cereal when one satisfies hunger? There is definitely something wrong. And the most frequent root of a body/mind disconnect is abuse - sexual, physical, emotional.

[O K Ali]

12:43 AM on 02/25/2012

I'm sorry, but I don't see an obese child and think of shaming them. I look to the parents and wonder if they know anything about nutrition or saying no. I remember growing up and wanting to run outside the first thing after homework. Nowadays, kids put down the pencil and pick up the controller and headset. A severe lack of activity, plus a unbalanced diet is a cause of childhood obesity, but the main factor are the parental figures who are themselves unhealthy or just don't give a damn. The billboards are for them.

[nnyl]

10:22 PM on 02/26/2012

They get shamed and bullied by their peers.

[O K Ali]

01:03 AM on 02/27/2012

Kids will always get bullied, not necessarily for their weight. Be it different hair, intelligence, or the favorite movie, a bully will always find a way to tease. That's what bullies do.

[Halla]

08:49 PM on 02/24/2012

BTW. Every time the subject of fat comes up (or should I say "OMG deathfat won't somebody please think of the chiiiiildren!?!") I am reminded that the US government redefined something like 25 million people as obese overnight when they adopted new guidelines on what counts as 'obese' (http://edition.cnn.com/HEALTH/9806/17/weight.guidelines/) Really easy to start/claim an epidemic when you lower the bar for what counts as 'too fat', no?

Follow the money - who benefits when the general population is chasing each other around judging themselves and each other as too fat? There's an increasing number and range of people being sent for weight loss surgery, which is a very lucrative industry.