Sometimes it’s statistics used in a television commercial, or a passionate radio voice saying something that really tugs on your heart strings. It’s the gut-wrenching images on your cigarette pack. These kinds of tactics are often used to shock people into changing their habits or recognizing an issue. Recently the shock factor has been implemented in the state of Georgia to raise awareness for childhood obesity. But has it been taken too far?

The "Stop Sugarcoating It, Georgia" campaign is being run by the Children's Healthcare of Atlanta pediatric hospital. The ads feature overweight and obese children and are meant to shock parents into action. Some of the quotes on the posters say things such as “It’s hard to be a little girl if you’re not” and “My fat may be funny to you, but it’s killing me” and feature photos of young, overweight kids.

It’s definitely controversial and it’s definitely getting people’s attention, but is it too much?

I’m sure we can all agree that childhood obesity is a growing problem, and I don’t think there is anybody out there who would want this for any child, but I still feel like this campaign can potentially do more harm than good.

The children featured on these advertisements are real kids. Not cartoons or drawings. What will the distribution of these posters do for their self esteem? Or other children who look at them and connect with those pictures on the posters, what will that do for their self esteem?

Shock may work for parents but for these young children, it’s feels the same as cyber-bullying or taunting them at school about their weight.

I don’t want to make it appear that I don’t have compassion for this issue, I just think that there has to be a better way to get a message across without potentially damaging the self esteem of hundreds or thousands of children. Kids have enough anxiety about body image already.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this campaign and any ideas you might have as to how to deliver this message in a better way.