Visual Rhetoric in Childhood Obesity
(Credit: National Center for Health Statistics)
This image is a graphical representation of the childhood obesity rates ranging from 1963-2002. It shows the gradual and continual increase in the incidence rates throughout the past 4 and a half decades. I think this image would be useful in risk communication for childhood obesity because it demonstrates the large increase in the amount of overweight children in the United States. A graph is more effective in showing the difference than a simple statement of the data. The article in which it appears also provides a chart of the hard data, towards the bottom of the page. For me, the bar graph was crucial in visualizing the facts. I think that this visual does a great job of explicitly portraying their message: the prevalence of overweight children on the rise.
This image portrays an obese baby being fed fast food by his parents. It is a cartoon representation of the many issues today which lead to the problem of childhood obesity. I think this would be useful in risk communication regarding the problem. Two of the main causes of childhood obesity are poor diet and poor environment (parental upbringing). This image demonstrates both of these. It implies that if children continue to be fed unhealthy foods the incidence rates of childhood obesity will continue to be a problem.
This final image shows the irony of American advertising. Just below a bulletin board advocating the fight against childhood obesity is another for McDonald’s. More and more children in the United States become overweight while the fast food industry continues to advertise its unhealthy and fattening foods. I think this image would be effective in risk communication focusing on childhood obesity. Mainly because it pinpoints one of the largest issues surrounding it: poor diet. Children need to be brought up with healthy lifestyles, eliminating the exposure to such harmful foods. The placement of these advertisements struck me as both ironic and unfortunate.
