Individual and social determinants of obesity in strategic health messages: Interaction with political ideology

Abstract

Antiobesity health communication campaigns often target individual behavior, but these ads might inflate the role of individual responsibility at the expense of other health determinants. In a 2 × 2 full-factorial, randomized, online experiment, 162 American adults viewed antiobesity advertisements that varied in emphasizing social or individual causation for obesity through text and images. Locus for attribution of responsibility for obesity causes and solutions was measured, as was how these responses were moderated by political ideology. Participants who viewed text emphasizing individual responsibility were less likely to agree that genetic factors caused obesity. Conservative participants who viewed images of overweight individuals were less likely than liberal participants to agree that social factors were responsible for causing obesity. In addition, among conservative participants who viewed images of fast food versus images of overweight individuals, agreement that the food industry bore some responsibility mediated support for policy solutions to obesity. These findings, among others, demonstrate that awareness of multilevel determinants of health outcomes can be a precursor of support for policy solutions to obesity among those not politically inclined to support antiobesity policy. In addition, stigmatizing images of overweight individuals in antiobesity campaigns might overemphasize the role of individual behavior in obesity at the expense of other factors.

Trend in overweight and obesity among women of reproductive age in Uganda: 1995–2016

“…Adolescent (15)(16)(17)(18)(19) and young (20)(21)(22)(23)(24) women represented more a two-fifth of the total sample. Majority of the women were of rural residency (81.1%), had primary level education (58.2%), followers of Christianity (82.9%), had more than two children (54.8%), married before reaching 18 years (56.4%), employed in technical/managerial work (54.6%), from non-poor households (64.6%), users of radio (76.5%) and user of TV (63.9%).…”

“…The increasing rates of obesity, especially among the most impoverished communities, has been a subject of great research and policy concern. Previous studies have explained the aetiology of obesity from various genetic, behavioural, dietary, environmental, sociocultural and macroeconomic factors . Although genetic make‐up is considered a key aetiological factor, obesity is increasingly being understood as a complex interplay between a host of behavioural (dietary habit and physical activity), environmental (obesogenic environment, e.g.…”

Communicating Evidence about the Causes of Obesity and Support for Obesity Policies: Two Population-Based Survey Experiments

“…Participants who read these messages reported greater support for policies to reduce obesity compared to participants in the control group who did not read any message. Subsequent studies have either found smaller effect sizes [ 32 ] or have not replicated these effects [ 33 , 34 , 35 ]. A further study only found statistically significant effects in a subgroup; among male but not female participants [ 36 ].…”

“…It is unlikely that differences in intervention content explain these mixed effects. Although the interventions varied across studies, they shared several key messages about the influences on obesity, including portion size [ 31 , 36 ], the availability of unhealthy foods [ 31 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ], advertising of unhealthy foods [ 31 , 32 , 36 ], and the lower price of unhealthy foods [ 31 , 34 , 35 , 36 ].…”

Strengthening resistance to the COVID-19 pandemic and fostering future resilience requires concerted action on obesity

“…Efforts to build evidence on effective ways to reduce and prevent obesity have been neglected for decades, according obesity lower priority within health plans and budgets. Obesity has often been politically de-prioritized with the issue cast as a failing of individuals rather than a result of social and economic factors and a collective responsibility [ 3 ]. Political will to address obesity has further been undermined by the influence of commercial interests, such as ultra-processed food and drink businesses, as well as the challenges of reshaping the built environment to create urban spaces that enbable active living.…”