Anti-Obestity Ads In Georgia Draw Criticism Around The Country

WASHINGTON, D.C. (WUSA) - An overweight boy sits on a folding chair facing his mother and asks, "Mom, why am I fat?"

Mom, who's also overweight, just sighs.

In another ad, an overweight mother talks about her obese daughter: "When the doctor said she had Type II Diabetes, I never thought what we eat made her sick. I just always thought she was thick like her mama."

The ads target parents and end with the line, "stop sugarcoating it, Georgia."   They're from The Georgia Children's Health Alliance, which is also using blunt messages in billboards with images of overweight kids like one with a chubby little girl that says "It's hard to be a little girl. If you're not."

Nearly 40 percent of the children in Georgia are overweight, that the second highest rate in the country, according to the CDC. And the Children's Health Alliance says the jarring massages were needed to get people's attention.

But on the streets of Washington, we couldn't find anyone who thought the ads were a good idea.

Dr. Scott Kahan, the director of the National Center of Weight and Wellness says he's repulsed by the ads which he believes could be counterproductive.

"Huge self-esteem issues. Body image issues. All sorts of mental health issues that could occur. But beyond that, it's just human and wrong," says Dr. Kahan.

He says shame and blame campaigns never work. He says only a multi-faceted approach with marketing, education and price incentives, including taxing high-fat processed food and junk food, will make the difference, similarly to how the nation reduced cigarette-smoking.

Written by Peggy Fox