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05.06.2009
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Private Label 2010: Redefining the Meaning of Brand
Why are consumers flocking to private label products in record numbers? Is the current economic crisis the stimulus behind the surge in apparent popularity? Can private label thrive without name brands?
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For more Hartman Group articles on OBESITY, click here...
07.30.2008 The Big Problem with Obesity
06.06.2007 Portion Control: Minimize Me, Please!
08.16.2006 The Challenges of Portion Control
07.12.2006 Understanding the Obesity Crisis
04.26.2006 The Rise of Single-Servie Packaging
03.08.2006 Satiety: 'Satisfying' the Hunger for a New Food Trend?
03.10.2005 The Balance Trap
10.26.2004 What If It's Not About the Food After All
08.19.2004 7 Myths of Obesity in America
08.05.2004 Snacking Our Way Through the Day: Food Culture in America
06.17.2004 Addressing the Problem of Obesity
04.07.2004 5 Faces of Obesity
02.11.2004 Don't Tell Me I'm Obese, I'm Just Big-Boned
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StumbleUponObesity and the Paradox of Culture
Even in the midst of recessionary woes, as analysts and consultants in the health, wellness and food arenas, we are continually puzzled — and more than a bit frustrated — by our collective cultural response to the obesity issue. In sheer numbers alone it is an issue which never seems to go away. While socially we stand united in our belief that obesity is a serious problem in American society, especially among our youth, our common responses often leave much to be desired.
Obesity always seems to be someone else's problem. A most recent example would include the results of a study described in The New York Times which equates the location of fast food restaurants near high schools in California with above average numbers of overweight students. Okay, in some ways such thinking makes sense on the surface…
Yet, reviewing the discourse surrounding obesity debates like this one, we find most proposed "solutions," can typically be placed into one of three common buckets — blame, teach or tinker. We blame the overweight person for a lack of discipline or self-control, we set out to teach folks how to "eat better," or we suggest tinkering with or otherwise modifying our food supply (in this case banning fast food restaurants from the proximity of schools).
The most common and, we believe least productive position, is to simply affix blame to someone or some organization. The finger of blame has been pointed squarely and sharply at the food industry for contributing to rising obesity rates in many Western countries. The industry in its own defense is quick to push the finger of blame towards the individual for his/her lack of self-regulation. While this perspective is a natural fit for a culture championing the ideals of self-discipline and self-control, we think most realize that the spike in obesity rates over the past twenty years — especially among children — can hardly be explained by something as vague as declining moral and character values. The blame game is a no-win for all involved.
Importantly, the tinker, teach, blame vision limits our fundamental ability to recognize — let alone address — the powerful role of culture in eating behavior and severely limits our understandings of obesity, not to mention any potential solution(s) to the problem. As we’ve seen in average Americans in well over fifteen years of health and wellness research, many of our citizens are obsessed with the details of their food (calories, fat, sugar, carbs, sodium, etc.), strategies for losing weight (diets, portion control, weight management programs, Jenny Craig, etc.), the psychological causes of obesity (lack of self-control, feelings of inadequacy, irresponsibility, etc.) and the science behind losing weight (e.g. "the body converts glucose from carbs into fat").
Note that all of these preoccupations direct our attention inward — inside our food, inside our habits, inside our minds, and inside our bodies — in search of a fix to our problems. And while we are all so busy "digging around" inside ourselves — figuratively as well as literally — what we often fail to remember is that eating always takes place in a larger context, a context that has the power to obscure if not obliterate much of our introspective hard work.
One ironic byproduct of such an obsessive, inward gaze is that we often become desensitized to the amount of calories we're actually consuming. While the knowledge and strategies detailed above (e.g. portion control, calorie counting, dieting, etc.) appear to work well in situations that are within the domain of individual control (e.g., eating in one's house), they fly out the window during activities that are culturally situated (e.g., a birthday party at one's office). It's not that we are unaware of the caloric content of the "birthday cheesecake," or the fact that the piece offered to us is much larger than we would have otherwise served ourselves. Rather, our elegant scientifically inspired solutions are effortlessly trumped by this cultural occasion.
Likewise, the reason diets never work in the long run for consumers is simply because most diets provide no acceptable framework for regular, everyday eating — an activity that is forever and always a cultural activity. True, some people may achieve temporary success with diets (usually by adopting some form of "not eating" or "not eating much"), but when they re-enter the "real world" and attempt to eat the way "everyone else does," the diet inevitably dissolves in the face of routine eating culture.
Frankly we remain baffled as to how so many well-meaning folks in scientific, public policy and marketing arenas continue to ignore the role of food culture in our ongoing challenges with obesity. After watching a near century of failure, you'd think that more than a few would begin to ask themselves "Hey, maybe it's not the apple that's bad, maybe it's the barrel?"
Take Away:
Identifying those elements of food culture which are broken, inferior or otherwise in need of repair is no small feat. While our own evidence suggests much of the answer may lie in notions of commensality — practices of eating together, at the same table, never alone and often in highly ritualized fashion — we have yet to even speculate as to how one might promote such ideas as a curative for the growing obesity dilemma.
Still, one can't help but to try to imagine an alternate universe, one in which, say, snacking — especially in the confines of one's workplace — is construed as "selfish, irresponsibly indulgent behavior," not in accord with "our general way." Who knows, perhaps someday in the near future we'll reminisce fondly of the days when it was considered acceptable to head to the drive-thru and stuff ourselves in the privacy of our own car rather than enjoy lunch in the company of our peers.Purchase “Understanding Obesity: Beyond Teaching, Tinkering & Blaming,” today!
Understanding Obesity:
Beyond Teaching, Tinkering and Blaming
Building from our previous work, this white paper provides a provocative, yet simple, explanation as to the root problem of this country's greatest public health issue and offers equally thought-provoking solutions.
Purchase your copy today!>>
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