Don’t Say That to ME: Opposition to Targeting in Weight-Centric Intervention Messages

ABSTRACT

Obesity is a global health issue. Despite well-intentioned efforts by public institutions, traditional health promotion techniques often lead to offending those most in need of weight loss. For example, when Bryn Mawr College targeted overweight students to offer a free fitness and nutrition program, it was met with accusations of fat-shaming, indicating that weight-centric messages operate in a more complex sociocultural system than many public health concerns. To better understand reactions to weight-centric health messages, college-aged women evaluated the Bryn Mawr College e-mail. Using an embedded mixed-methods design, analysis revealed that reactions followed four positive themes, six negative themes, and one neutral theme. Statistical tests indicated that health literacy, feminist identification, body dissatisfaction, and body size discrepancy influenced evaluations of message offensiveness and effectiveness. Contrary to the recommendations of traditional behavior change research, these results indicate that audience segmentation and message tailoring may not be effective for promoting weight loss.

Acknowledgment

The authors thank Jennifer Kam and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful feedback on previous versions of this article.

Notes

¹ Though the term “obesity” is often seen as the politically correct term to use, it is, in fact, a clinical term that has a specific meaning (the state “in which the natural energy reserve, accumulated in the fatty tissue of humans, increases to a point where it leads to certain health conditions”; Matusitz & McCormick, 2012, p. 254). However, many in the fat-acceptance movement prefer the word “fat” to the more clinical terminology because they do not see fatness as a disease. Therefore, throughout this article, we use the terms “obesity” and “overweight” when referring to clinical physical states (e.g., specific BMIs), and we use the term “fat” in all other contexts.

² It is important to note that many of the supporters of HAES commit the straw-man fallacy when challenging weight-centric approaches. HAES supporters criticize the health care community for suggesting weight loss only for improving health, instead of supporting overall healthy behavior changes. However, it is hard to believe that any health care provider would endorse a weight loss program that does not include nutrition and exercise changes. Therefore, it seems that the only disagreement between the traditional health care community and HAES supporters is their opinions over the mention of weight.