According to a story today in the Chattanooga Times Free Press, the heavy children shown in the state of Georgia's shaming, shameful Strong4Life campaign are child actors hired to pretend they have hypertension, no friends, and other negative qualities the ads associate with childhood obesity.
Because . . . they couldn't find any fat children with those conditions who were willing to model for their ads?
Maybe. Maybe not. Here I was worrying about how starring in an ad like this would affect a child like "Jaden" or "Maritza." It turns out there is no "Maritza," or rather, "Maritza" is actually a healthy 11-year-old girl named Chloe who does not have hypertension, or any major health issues.
So it turns out that not only is this so-called public health campaign manipulative and shaming, it's also a big lie. A big FAT lie.
Stop lying, Georgia. Really.
6 comments:
Dear Harriet
A public health campaign has no boarders. The lie is spreading.
Thank you for prevaricating the caption of the ad.
Bonnie
Great post, Harriet. This was totally on my list of stuff to cover on Strong4Life. I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed it. Thank you for continuing to speak out.
Peace,
Shannon
Now NYC has a fake amputation ad. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/nyregion/in-health-dept-ad-photoshop-not-diabetes-took-leg.html
This is why I've always loathed advertising--the end justifies the means.
Ugh.
Shameful.
This is just plain sad.
Post a Comment