When the obese comedian Louie Anderson debuted on “The Tonight Show” (NBC, 1962 ) with Johnny Carson in 1984, almost his entire routine was based on his obesity. The most telling part was when he suggested to the audience, "You're probably sitting out there wondering 'Does he know he's that big?'" And Louie answers for them "... like I woke one morning and said, 'Oh, no.'"
Interestingly, 25 years after Louie's debut, obesity has become one of the most pervasive public health problems in the United States. How did that happen? Did we, as a nation, just wake up one day and notice that our children had become obese, that more and more children, teenagers and young adults were being diagnosed with diabetes Type 2? Of course not.
Over the past thirty years, the food industry has learned to use the very pervasive and persuasive marketing weapons long wielded by the tobacco and alcohol industries to advance market share and increase profits. It has been developing slowly and surely as manufacturers of soft drinks, snack foods and other processed and packaged foods were using everything in their marketing arsenal to sell their products and post ever-increasing earnings.
With the help of television and Saturday morning programming, these companies have been bombarding our children with their messages almost every eight minutes, offering prizes and happiness full of sugar, fats and additives. School boards, with their usual budgetary problems, were offered great financial benefits for placing vending machines in their schools. The kids never had a chance. The industry had them hooked before they entered first grade. The companies offered coupons, with "buy one, get one free" and "50 cents off,” to parents to pull their sugar and fat laden goodies through the markets.
Today, the Centers for Disease Control, the American Heart Association and many other organizations and institutions are mobilizing to combat this new assault on our country's health, safety, productivity and economic well being.
Considering the power, influence and considerable funding behind these commodities, the question is, for those of us that know first-hand how insidious and pervasive these industries' products are, how can we ever stop or prevent their products from becoming such huge public health and safety concerns?
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