We Are Why You Are Fat

In this file photo, the media uses a photo of a morbidly obese boy to cravenly contribute to the cycle of childhood obesity.

Seeing unattractive photos of fat people in the media is (part of) why you are fat, according to a new study out of Yale's Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. According to the researchers, online news sources tend to use negative images of overweight people in stories about obesity (i.e. eating fast food, wearing tight clothes or shown with their heads cut off) and those images in turn perpetuate obesity's bad reputation, which may contribute to obesity itself.

Looking at images in obesity stories on news sites from a two week period in 2009, the study identified 441 individuals in photos. 65 percent of them were overweight/obese and 27 percent were not. According to the researchers "overall, 72% of images that depicted an overweight or obese person were portrayed in a negative, stigmatizing manner" with the overweight more likely "to have their heads cut out of the photos, to be portrayed showing only their abdomens or lower bodies, and to be shown eating or drinking than were nonoverweight individuals." Further, the overweight photo subjects were "significantly less likely" to be shown fully clothed, wearing professional clothing, or exercising than their less weight-challenged peers.

"News photographs degrade and dehumanize obese individuals when they show them with their heads cut out of images, as isolated body parts, or with an unflattering emphasis on excess weight," said Rebecca Puhl, co-author of the study. "They become symbols of an epidemic rather than valued members of society."

Other research already apparently shows that people who see unattractive photos of overweight people tend to have more weight bias than those who don't. And that bias can quickly become a social stigma, which in turn can cause depression and low self-esteem in fat folk, which in turn can trigger overeating, inactivity and further weight gain.

So what to do? "The news media has tremendous power to shape the opinion of policy makers and the public, and can play an important role in reducing pervasive societal weight stigma by changing the visual content of their news reports about obesity," said Puhl. As such the Rudd Center has released a set of guidelines [PDF] for how the media should portray obese people and even started an image gallery of flattering fat photos. Related: we will never stop running the above photo.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Garth Johnston in Food on May 13, 2011 10:24 AM

Comments [rss]

Zen

Well if McDonalds & all these fast food joints wouldn't experiment with mechanically engineered foods, maybe people would be able to break down the food properly and lower obesity. What they do is make all the advertising seem so attractively delicious and affordable that you're not aware of what is REALLY entering your stomach. Grab a small order of McDonald fries, put them on a plate. Place them anywhere in your house. After a week, 2 weeks, a month, you will see no change. No mold, no odor, no discoloration...now imagine THAT sitting in your stomach for who knows how long.

pvbklyn

So what do you want to see? Attractive thin people in these stories like you see in all the fast food, chain restaurant, beer and even pharmaceutical adverts? The real culprit is the crap served in shitty restaurants and the advertising that gets people in them 6 -7 days a week, twice maybe three times a day. That's why America is obese! Stay home and cook your own fucking eggs or eat a bowl of cereal, America. . .make a pot of beans. Eat a real salad with oil and vinegar. Stop spending your pathetic little salaries in these fucking poisonous mills.

Fofofofofo

If it makers their fat asses happy, then what business is it of my skinny ass?

k3ll3s

Hmm..is this study full of bologna? What if someone did a study on 'how negative images of obese prevented people from becoming overweight??" Would that negate this study?

xerox0001

Well, looky here. So the anti-anti-obesity lobbyists are now infiltrating the media and pushing out questionable "studies" to promote their own agenda. What a surprise.

Obesity should never be considered the "new normal" in the US, if we value self-preservation and have any ounce of pride left.

The people who did this "study" naturally do not question if showing fat people in a *positive* light will help encourage even more obesity it because the stigma is removed.

soxinthecity

Get those kids some bikes.

gromek

i like how the kid on the right is asking "hey, you gonna eat that?"

Robert Douglas Peat MacKie

...and new parents - maybe even ones with brains

trixoh

can you please stop using that photo to illustrate "obese"? i would think you could afford another stock photograph. we don't need to mock kids.

Madly Hatting

"What matters is that if you
believe in the sanctity of life then you believe it for life of all
ages. That's what I hate about this child-worship syndrome going on.
"Save the children! They're killing children! How many children were at
Waco? They're killing children!" What does that mean? They reach a
certain age and they're off your fucking love-list? Fuck your children,
if that's the way you think and fuck you too. You either love
people of all ages or you shut the fuck up.” - Bill Hicks

masterjarvis

i dont think it mocks the kid. i think it illustrates a real problem. if you think it mocks the kid maybe there is something inside of you that you need to examine.

Peanut_Butter

Okay, Ben Sobeleone.

John_Del_Signore

If you show me a photo that better illustrates America's childhood obesity problem, I'd consider it. But I doubt one exists.

Spirit of 76

Interesting that the story doesn't mention anything at all about childhood obesity. Also, I think it's been pointed out before that that picture comes from a UK article, so not the best illustration of America's problem.

lizzie_d

I love when people pick at small things in an article regarding a much larger, frightening issue that affects so many people in this country and this world. People are not taking responsibility for obesity but yes, let's discuss the use of the photo, which from the UK or not, still accurately portrays what is happening in the US and other developed countries in the world