Reframing obesity: a critical discourse analysis of the UK’s first social marketing campaign

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a critical discourse analysis of the UK government’s ‘Change4Life’ antiobesity social marketing campaign, which uses colorful cartoon characters and simplified messages to ‘reframe’ the issue of obesity, and encourage the public to take an active role in addressing this policy problem. It stems from a wider political context in which insights from behavioral economics (‘nudge’) are increasingly turned to for solutions to policy problems. The approach particularly emphasizes the importance of carefully crafted communication in securing public compliance with desired policy outcomes and has gained considerable attention in political science, economics, and health research. This paper contributes to that growing debate by offering a systematic textually oriented critical analysis of the discourse of nudge. It maps the public, private, and third sector practices comprising this campaign and critically examines the underlying balance of power and vested interests. Detailed analysis of the launch advert and surrounding policy documents reveals how scientific claims about obesity are recontextualized, simplified, and distorted in this campaign. It is further argued that the use of behavioral psychology legitimizes individualized policy solutions, squeezing out public deliberation over the complex structural causes of obesity.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical discourse analysis
• framing
• intertextuality
• nudge
• obesity policy
• recontextualization

Acknowledgment

I am grateful to Michael Farrelly, David Hyatt, and the anonymous reviewers for their comments on the draft of this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. I follow Thaler and Sunstein in using lower case when using the term ‘nudge’.

2. Figures published by Public Health England, available at http://www.noo.org.uk (accessed December 23, 2015).

3. This began as a government policy unit but in 2014 was part-privatized, with the government retaining a one-third stake, while selling the remainder for an undisclosed sum to the charity NESTA (whose remit is to promote innovation and science) and its employees.

4. Among the most influential approaches are those of Fairclough (2003), van Dijk (2009), and Wodak (2001).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jane Mulderrig

Jane Mulderrig lectures in applied linguistics at Sheffield University, UK. Her research uses critical discourse analysis to investigate the use of ‘soft’ power, persuasion, and ‘spin’ in contemporary governance and politics, as well as discourses of aging and ageism.

For publications and other activities, see: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/english/people/mulderrig