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The present study examined the ways that adolescents cope with experiences of weight-based victimization at school. An initial sample of 1,555 students from two high schools in central Connecticut completed a comprehensive battery of self-report measures to assess their experiences of weight-based teasing and bullying at school, affective responses to these experiences, and coping strategies used to deal with incidents of weight-based victimization. These findings can inform efforts to assist overweight youth to cope adaptively with weight-based victimization.

Full citation: Puhl RM, Luedicke J. Weight-based victimization among adolescents in the school setting: emotional reactions and coping behaviors. J Youth Adolesc. 2012;41(1):27-40. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-011-9713-z

The obesity epidemic cannot be reversed without substantial improvements in the food marketing environment that surrounds children. Food marketing targeted to children almost exclusively promotes calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods and takes advantage of children’s vulnerability to persuasive messages. Increasing scientific evidence reveals potentially profound effects of food marketing on children’s lifelong eating behaviors and health. Much of this marketing occurs in nationwide media (eg, television, the Internet), but companies also directly target children in their own communities through the use of billboards and through local environments such as stores, restaurants, and schools.

Given the harmful effect of this marketing environment on children’s health and the industry’s reluctance to make necessary changes to its food marketing practices, government at all levels has an obligation to act. This article focuses on policy options for municipalities that are seeking ways to limit harmful food marketing at the community level.

Full citation: Harris JL, Graff SK. Protecting children from harmful food marketing: options for local government to make a difference. Prev Chronic Dis. 2011;8(5):A92.

The food industry disproportionately markets to young people through product placements. Children and adolescents may be more susceptible to these disguised persuasive attempts. Data on the number of food, beverage, and restaurant brand appearances within shows during prime-time programming in 2008 were purchased from Nielsen and analyzed by product category and company in 2010. Exposure to these brand appearances by children, adolescents, and adults was examined and compared with exposure to prime-time TV advertisements for the same categories and companies using additional Nielsen data.

Food, beverage, and restaurant brands appeared a total of 35,000 times within prime-time TV programming examined by Nielsen in 2008. Regular soft drinks, traditional restaurants (i.e., not quick-serve), and energy/sports drinks made up 60% of all brand appearances. Young people viewed relatively few of these appearances, with one notable exception. Coca-Cola products were seen 198 times by the average child and 269 times by the average adolescent during prime-time shows over the year, accounting for 70% of child exposure and 61% of adolescent exposure to brand appearances. One show, American Idol, accounted for more than 95% of these exposures. Exposure of children to Coca-Cola products through traditional advertisements was much less common.

Full citation: Speers SE, Harris JL, Schwartz MB. Child and adolescent exposure to food and beverage brand appearances during prime-time television programming. Am J Prev Med. 2011;41(3):291-296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2011.04.018

The objective of this study was to identify pledges made by the food industry to change food marketing to children worldwide, examine their content, and discuss their potential to reduce the harmful effects of food marketing to children. Between 2005 and 2009, the food industry developed thirteen pledges on food marketing to children, involving fifty-two food companies. Two of the pledges were global, two were regional, and nine applied to specific countries. All pledges included definitions of children and child-targeted media, as well as the communication channels and marketing techniques covered, and permitted companies to set criteria for foods that are exempted from any restrictions.

The development of pledges on food marketing to children in such a short span of time is impressive. However, limitations and inconsistencies in the pledges and commitments suggest that the food industry has a long way to go if its pledges are to comprehensively reduce the exposure and power of marketing to children.

Full citation: Hawkes C, Harris JL. An analysis of the content of food industry pledges on marketing to children. Public Health Nutr. 2011;14(8):1403-1414. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980011000607

The objective of this study was to report the childhood obesity-related attitudes and beliefs of community advocates who are serving African-American children. Attendees at the 2009 National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) annual meeting who also attended the session on childhood obesity were surveyed. Survey respondents felt that social determinants like heavy advertising, high cost of healthful food, etc were contributors to the childhood obesity epidemic while simultaneously believing that parents were ultimately responsible for shaping their children’s eating behaviors.

Full citation: Johnson-Askew WL, Fisher R, Henderson K, Schwartz M. Attitudes of African American advocates toward childhood obesity. Ethn Dis. 2011;21(3):268-273.

Non-supermarket food retailers can be a promising channel for increasing the availability of healthy foods in underserved communities. The present paper reports on retailer practices, attitudes and beliefs about the supply of healthy foods before and after the introduction of new subsidies for healthy foods by the US Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) in October 2009.

Retailers identified customer demand as the primary factor in stocking decisions. They reported observing a significantly weaker demand for healthy foods compared with unhealthy foods, although it improved for certain foods with the new WIC subsidies. Less healthy foods were also perceived as more profitable. Supplier networks varied by product from convenient manufacturer delivery for salty snacks to self-supply for produce. WIC retailers were able to quickly adapt and supply healthy foods required under the new WIC programme guidelines.

Full citation: Andreyeva T, Middleton AE, Long MW, Luedicke J, Schwartz MB. Food retailer practices, attitudes and beliefs about the supply of healthy foods. Public Health Nutr. 2011;14(6):1024-1031. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1368980011000061

The Child Nutrition and WIC Reauthorization Act of 2004 required school districts to establish a local school wellness policy by the first day of the 2006-2007 school year. To provide a baseline measure of the extent to which wellness-related policies were implemented in school districts nationwide in 2006, this study analyzed data from the 2006 School Health Policies and Programs Study (SHPPS). SHPPS used a cross-sectional design to measure policies and practices among a nationally representative sample of 538 public school districts. The authors applied a standardized wellness policy coding system to the data by matching each element to relevant questions from SHPPS and calculated the percentage of school districts meeting each element in the coding system.

In 2006, none of the districts met all elements included in the coding system for local wellness policies. In addition, the percentage of districts meeting each element varied widely. On average, districts met the greatest number of elements in the area of nutrition education and the least number of elements in the area of physical activity.

Full citation: Brener ND, Chriqui JF, O’Toole TP, Schwartz MB, McManus T. Establishing a baseline measure of school wellness-related policies implemented in a nationally representative sample of school districts. J Am Diet Assoc. 2011;111(6):894-901. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2011.03.016

Beverage taxes came into light with increasing concerns about obesity, particularly among youth. Sugar-sweetened beverages have become a target of anti-obesity initiatives with increasing evidence of their link to obesity. Our paper offers a method for estimating revenues from an excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages that governments of various levels could direct towards obesity prevention.

A modest tax on sugar-sweetened beverages could both raise significant revenues and improve public health by reducing obesity. To the extent that at least some of the tax revenues get invested in obesity prevention programs, the public health benefits could be even more pronounced.

Full citation: Andreyeva T, Chaloupka FJ, Brownell KD. Estimating the potential of taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages to reduce consumption and generate revenue. Prev Med. 2011;52(6):413-416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.03.013

The objective of this study was to assess the public support for potential legislation to prohibit weight-based discrimination against obese individuals in the United States and to examine whether certain message frames about weight discrimination influence public support. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of the four paragraphs that framed the topic of weight discrimination in a distinct way (or a control condition with no paragraph). Participants were then asked to indicate their level of support for six antidiscrimination laws.

There was moderate support for several laws to prohibit weight-based discrimination, but gender differences were observed across experimental conditions, indicating that some message frames may increase support for certain laws among women, but not men. However, message frames had no effect on support for laws with specific provisions to prohibit weight discrimination in the workplace, suggesting that public support for these particular legal measures is consistent and high (65% of men and 81% of women expressed support) regardless of how the issue of weight discrimination is framed to the public.

Full citation: Puhl RM, Heuer C, Sarda V. Framing messages about weight discrimination: impact on public support for legislation. Int J Obes (Lond). 2011;35(6):863-872. https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2010.194

This study conducted a content analysis to examine the types of images that accompany online news stories about obesity and to determine how obese people are portrayed in news photographs. Images were selected from news articles about obesity obtained from 5 major news websites during a 2-week period in September 2009. Images accompanying news stories about obesity (N = 549) were systematically coded.

Of 441 individuals identified in news photographs, 65% were overweight/obese, and 27% were nonoverweight. Overall, 72% of images that depicted an overweight or obese person were portrayed in a negative, stigmatizing manner. Overweight/obese individuals were significantly more likely to have their heads cut out of the photos, to be portrayed showing only their abdomens or lower bodies, and to be shown eating or drinking than were nonoverweight individuals. Overweight/obese individuals were significantly less likely to be shown fully clothed, wearing professional clothing, or exercising than were nonoverweight individuals. Obese individuals are frequently stigmatized in online news photographs; this phenomenon has important implications for public perceptions of obese persons and may reinforce pervasive prejudice and discrimination.

Full citation: Heuer CA, McClure KJ, Puhl RM. Obesity stigma in online news: a visual content analysis. J Health Commun. 2011;16(9):976-987. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2011.561915