COMMENTARY | An ad campaign by the organization Strong4Life and Children's Healthcare of Atlanta has raised the question as to whether it is better to shame and belittle someone into losing weight. The ads feature overweight children and slogans such as "It's hard to be a little girl if you're not" and "Big bones didn't make me this way. Big meals did."
I was one of those kids who was bullied and teased and called fat. Looking at my childhood pictures, I still don't understand why the other kids thought I was fat but perhaps it was because a second grade teacher had pointed out in front of the class that I was "round" during an activity.
Either way, the ads offer the idea that it is okay to ridicule someone who is overweight and the ridicule will spur them into action. I spent years in middle school exercising in my room and obsessing about my weight because I was ridiculed. I would skip meals and spend a lot of time in front of the mirrors looking at bulges and jiggles and hating myself.
What does ridiculing a child for their weight do? For me, it made me judge others on their looks rather than their character -- because I judged myself unworthy. Every time I looked in the mirror I saw a fat girl.
Now, as an adult, I could stand to lose 10 or 20 pounds, but I have developed a healthier self-esteem. As a child, though, my weight was an obsession.
No, the ads in Georgia are not going to help anyone. Childhood obesity is a problem in America but creating children who have self-image issues and sending the message that it's okay to ridicule someone about their weight is a bad, bad idea and I hope someone with common sense steps in and comes up with a better idea.
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