These are a few of the ads that have been running in Georgia since last summer. For whatever reason, recently the national media has been reporting on these ads. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta is sponsoring them as a way of drawing attention to the obesity crisis in Georgia. The commercials claim we currently have the second highest number of obese children in the nation. My own personal investigation lead me to the CDC who chart the ADULT numbers HERE.  According to the CDC most states are hovering around the 25%  mark as of 2010.  Twelve states have a more than 30% obesity rate and Georgia just eeked under that benchmark with 29.6% .  So if we are second in the nation with 40% of our children obese, we are doing some pretty piss poor parenting.

So now, the media is coming out of the woodwork worrying about our poor, fat kids. They seem to be more concerned about these ads than the fact that we have a whole generation of kids with hypertension and diabetes in our first and second grade classrooms. Oh My! Let’s not hurt their feelings!  I’m pretty sure fat kids know they are fat, just like fat adults know they are fat. I tell you this as a fat person. We know, we get it, we’re fat.  The ads are directed at the parents who just filled their kids Christmas stocking with sugar and video games instead of fruit and bicycles. Those are the people who should be ashamed not the kids.  Remember when type two diabetes was called “adult on-set diabetes”? Not any more.

What do y’all think about these ads? Are they going to make a difference? Are they helpful or harmful in your opinion?