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08.19.2004

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Read more about The Hartman Group's Obesity in America: Understanding Weight Management from a Consumer's Perspective.

For more Hartman Group articles on OBESITY, click here...

HARTBEAT
August 05, 2004 "Snacking Our Way Through the Day: Food Culture in America" - by James Richardson

June 17, 2004 "Addressing the Problem of Obesity" - by Harvey Hartman

April 07, 2003 "The 5 Faces of Obesity" - by The Hartman Group

Feb 11, 2004 "Don't Tell Me I'm Obese, I'm Just Big-Boned" - by The Hartman Group

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7 Myths Of Obesity In America

The Hartman Group's recent report Obesity in America: Understanding Weight Management from a Consumer Perspective, revealed seven myths surrounding consumers' perspectives on weight. If companies are to successfully speak to consumers and market their products appropriately, these myths must be dispelled to uncover the reality of Obesity in America.

Myth #1: Consumers are concerned about obesity as it relates to their daily lives.

Reality: Consumers claim to be concerned about many issues; obesity, crime in their neighborhood, halitosis, etc. However, through behavioral research, it is clear that "obesity" is not an issue that consumers are concerned with on a day-to-day basis. Certainly, many consumers would like to "lose a few pounds," but they also think that their weight is fairly average compared to others, and they are unclear about how to take action.

"Need to lose a few pounds, but overall not too worried about it."
-Female, 24, Los Angeles (obese)

Myth #2: Consumers look to media images to set the standards for weight.

Reality: Consumers are very pragmatic; most see media images as unreachable goals. Rather, consumers look to their friends and family (their social networks) to decide what is "normal" and when it is time to gain or lose weight. If an individual's social network is composed of primarily overweight and obese persons, the individual is less likely to think of themselves as overweight, even if they have a high body mass index (BMI).

Myth #3: Consumers blame manufacturers and retailers for the "obesity problem."

Reality: Sixty percent of consumers strongly agree that "I am responsible for choosing the right foods to eat, not manufacturers." Only one percent of consumers strongly disagree with that viewpoint. The only consistent targets of blame for obesity by consumers are the obese themselves. Obesity is interpreted primarily as a controllable, moral responsibility to take care of oneself. If probed to place the blame, consumers feel that most, if not all, obese individuals have allowed themselves, tacitly or otherwise, to become fat.

Myth #4: Consumers link obesity with potential personal health issues.

Reality: While consumers demonstrate their awareness of the supposed connection between excess weight and health risks, most do not perceive themselves at risk for disease. When the consumer is asked directly if they personally can be overweight and healthy, the majority strongly agree. Furthermore, consumers do not understand obesity as a disease; diseases, in Western culture at large, are afflictions that strike unwilling "victims" through unseen agents (viruses, parasites, toxic chemicals, etc.). Consumers consider obesity to be the consequence of a natural act (everyday food consumption and lack of physical activity), and therefore it does not fit into their understanding of a disease. Subsequently, product messaging utilizing a health-related positioning is unlikely to resonate with many overweight and obese consumers.

Myth #5: Consumers use objective measurements, such as Body Mass Index (BMI) and body fat, to assess their weight.

Reality: Consumers assess their weight primarily through relativistic, not objective, means. Use of objective or scientific assessments of body mass (such as BMI) is rare, except when consumers have been introduced to them by medical professionals. Rather, assessments tend to be related to improved physical appearance and social acceptance. For example, some consumers decide to lose weight when they catch a glimpse of themselves in a glass window reflection and feel a sudden surge of displeasure. Specific occurrences also serve as a "call" to lose weight, such as the realization that a favorite pair of jeans no longer fits, or looking at an old photograph and realizing that "I am not the person I once was."

Myth #6: Consumers first try to lose weight by changing their food habits.

Reality: Consumers believe that food intake and lack of physical activity are equally responsible for "the obesity problem" in society. In terms of their own lives, however, consumers are more likely to cite physical activity as the method they would rather pursue to lose weight rather than changing or reducing their food intake. Exercise is an easily compartmentalized site of "self-control" in any weight loss effort, because it simply involves adding an activity into one's life. It is the opposite of most dieting behaviors, which involve subtracting something - be it through reduced portion sizes or through the reduction or elimination of desired foods. Therefore, exercise is imagined to be a much easier course of weight loss for consumers than is tinkering with their own complex eating patterns, some of which are wholly unconscious (i.e., habitual).

Myth #7: Most consumers are following short-term diets, which allow them to lose weight very rapidly.

Reality: There are two general types of dieters. One group follows a short-term dieting regime, which lasts approximately 5-6 weeks, and the other group approaches dieting (or its version of dieting) as a long-term proposition lasting several months if not years. The long-term approach allows consumers to embrace moderation, which, to consumers, means small changes over the long-term based in accordance with how they "feel" at any given time. For example, the lasting impact of the low-carb diet will be the habit of "watching carbs" as a lifestyle-driven component of living and eating healthier.

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