Australian Childhood Obesity Advertisement

Fair For Child Obesity PSA to Compare Junk Food and Drugs?

October 7, 2010

Is junk food — like a drug — just a quick and easy fix parents give their kids? Cases of childhood obesity have more than tripled in the past 30 years, so health administrators are trying to curb the trend. An Australian production company hopes to educate parents about the ill effects of junk food with a public service announcement that compares fast food and drugs. Do you agree?

5 Comments

krispin 2 years 32 weeks

@anonymous: Check the latest studies and you'll see, that the long term effects on biochemical level are surprisingly similar. Plus, junk food dramatically increases risk of heart disease (which is by the way the leading cause of death in the US, UK...) ...

2 years 32 weeks

Krispin, you are way off base. How many people have been murdered over a cheeseburger? How many people lie, cheat and steal to get a french fry? A bag of potato chips does not change your brain chemistry like one hit of heroin can. You do not have to be on a substitute drug(methadone for heroin users) for years because of the way the Snickers bar changed your neuron receptors. Comparing junk food to serious drugs is irresponsible and takes away from the seriousness of drug addiction. To compare smoking to heroin is ridiculous and shows that the people doing it really know nothing of the way hard drugs affect a person on a molecular and chemical level. A bad box of chicken nuggets can give you diarrhea for a day or two, but it can't kill you instantly like cheaply laced cocaine can.

krispin 2 years 32 weeks

I don't think junk food is ok, even if eaten infrequently. Same goes with cigarettes (or other drugs for that matter) - an occasional smoke probably won't kill you, but it's not exactly healthy either. Plus, junk food affects the brain in much the same way that cocaine or heroin does. Soooo, yes, the announcement is a bit bizzare, but it's not meant to be understood literally. It's ... "food for thought". :)