Obesity in the media: social science weighs in

Boero, Natalie C.

doi:10.1080/09581596.2013.783686

Cited by 32 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…As such, reader comments have been identified by both Atanasova et al . () and Boero () as an important area for obesity research. Comment boards can engender highly emotive discussion about obesity (De Brún et al .…”

Section: The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotion in obesity discourse: understanding public attitudes towards regulations for obesity prevention

Farrell

Warin

Moore

et al. 2015

Sociology Health & Illness

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Intense concern about obesity in the public imagination and in political, academic and media discourses has catalysed advocacy efforts to implement regulatory measures to reduce the occurrence of obesity in Australia and elsewhere. This article explores public attitudes towards the possible implementation of regulations to address obesity by analysing emotions within popular discourses. Drawing on reader comments attached to obesity-relevant news articles published on Australian news and current affairs websites, we examine how popular anxieties about the 'obesity crisis' and vitriol directed at obese individuals circulate alongside understandings of the appropriate role of government to legitimise regulatory reform to address obesity. Employing Ahmed's theorisation of 'affective economies' and broader literature on emotional cultures, we argue that obesity regulations achieve popular support within affective economies oriented to neoliberal and individualist constructions of obesity. These economies preclude constructions of obesity as a structural problem in popular discourse; instead positioning anti-obesity regulations as a government-endorsed vehicle for discrimination directed at obese people. Findings implicate a new set of ethical challenges for those championing regulatory reform for obesity prevention.

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Section: The Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Emotion in obesity discourse: understanding public attitudes towards regulations for obesity prevention

Farrell

Warin

Moore

et al. 2015

Sociology Health & Illness

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Researchers have studied media representations of obesity, typically focusing on: constructions of the problem; the science of obesity; and obesity policy . Analyses of Swedish media content include Sandberg's examination of Swedish daily newspapers' framing of obesity, and Roos' comparison of Swedish and UK newspaper representations of obesity prevention.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Literature on media representations of childhood obesity covers a broad range of focuses, including how media framing has defined obesity in terms of its causes and potential solutions , and the gendered nature of parental blame . Boero's review of social science perspectives on obesity media suggests that individual framings tend to dominate representations of obesity, but identifies childhood obesity as a possible exception, with blame for children's overweight shifted to parents and societal institutions. Recent work in Ireland by De Brún emphasises the gendered nature of this parental blame, with mothers bearing the brunt of responsibility .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Media framing and construction of childhood obesity: a content analysis of Swedish newspapers

Hooft

Patterson

Löf

et al. 2018

Obesity Science & Practice

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SummaryObjectiveDespite lower prevalence than most European countries, childhood obesity is a Swedish public health priority due to its lasting health impacts and socioeconomic patterning. Mass media content influences public and political perceptions of health issues, and media framing of childhood obesity may influence perceptions of its solutions. This study examines framing of childhood obesity in Swedish morning and evening newspapers from 1996 to 2014.MethodsContent analysis of 726 articles about childhood obesity published in the five most‐circulated Swedish newspapers. Article content coded quantitatively and subjected to statistical analysis, describing relationships between themes and trends over time.ResultsChildhood obesity was consistently problematised, primarily in health terms, and linked to socio‐economic and geographical factors. The yearly frequency of articles peaked in 2004, followed by a decline, corresponding with evidence about prevalence. Childhood obesity was framed as being driven by individual behaviours more frequently than structural or environmental factors. Structural framings increased over time, but constructions of the problem as driven by individual behaviours, particularly parenting, remained prominent.ConclusionsA relative growth in structural framings of causes and solutions over time, combined with prominent coverage of socio‐economic inequalities, might be indicative of public and political amenability towards societal‐level solutions, but individual behaviours remain prominent in framing of the issue. Health advocates might incorporate these insights into media engagement.

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“…Scholars have rightly challenged the notion of an 'obesity epidemic' as constructed in the media in ways that reinforce existing cultural and political relations of power (Boero, 2013), often conflating size with pathology (Guthman, 2013). Others have argued that the actual epidemiological data do not support the claim about an epidemic, and that the societal response to the presumed public health 'threat' should be understood as a moral panic, i.e.…”

mentioning

confidence: 97%

You can’t walk or bike yourself out of the health effects of poverty: active school transport, child obesity, and blind spots in the public health literature

Chaufan

Yeh

Ross

et al. 2014

Critical Public Health

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Mainstream public health theories of obesity attribute current, unprecedented numbers of obese youth to changes in eating practices and levels of physical activity, in turn leading to greater energy consumption and lesser energy expenditure. While substantial research has examined energy consumption among school-age children, key modes of energy expenditure such as active school transport (AST) remain underexplored. Using AST data obtained from the California Safe Routes to Schools program and child health data from the California Physical Fitness Test, we examined the association between AST and child obesity among school-age children and disambiguated this relationship introducing the variable poverty. We found that greater AST correlated with higher rates of child obesity and higher rates of child poverty, which in turn correlated with worse child health and obesity rates. Our findings suggest that child poverty explains the positive relationship between AST and child obesity that has puzzled investigators. Our analysis also reveals recurring blind spots in the public health literature, which often acknowledges that poverty begets poor health yet calls for environmental changes while rarely calling for eliminating poverty, one critical social determinant of health, even as these determinants have become legitimate objects of scientific inquiry. We propose that while environmental changes may improve the health of the poor, the only effective way to improve child health and reduce child obesity is to eliminate or dramatically reduce child poverty, a sociopolitical issue. This study is part of a larger project evaluating socio-political determinants of child health.

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Obesity in the media: social science weighs in

Cited by 32 publications

References 30 publications

Emotion in obesity discourse: understanding public attitudes towards regulations for obesity prevention

Emotion in obesity discourse: understanding public attitudes towards regulations for obesity prevention

Media framing and construction of childhood obesity: a content analysis of Swedish newspapers

You can’t walk or bike yourself out of the health effects of poverty: active school transport, child obesity, and blind spots in the public health literature

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