Course Code

Child Obesity

Name Date

Child Obesity

Table of Contents
Table of Contents....................................................................................................... 2 1.0 Introduction.......................................................................................................... 3 2.0 Problem of Childhood Obesity in the World..........................................................4 3.0 Negative Effects of Child Obesity on Health ........................................................4 4.0 Causes of Child Obesity in the World....................................................................5 5.0 Symptoms and Diagnosis..................................................................................... 7 6.0 Proposed Marketing Campaign to Reduce Child Obesity in UK.............................8 7.0 Target Market..................................................................................................... 10 8.0 S.M.A.R.T Goals of Proposed Marketing Campaign.............................................11 9.0 Evaluation of Proposed Marketing Campaign ....................................................12 10. Conclusion.......................................................................................................... 13 References................................................................................................................ 15

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1.0 Introduction
The problem of childhood obesity has emerged as one of the major public health challenge in many countries around the world in twenty first century. According to Rabbitt et al. (2012), the problem is more acute in those countries where consumption patterns of eating fast food are more common. United States is an example of such a country where consumption pattern of eating fast food is in vogue. Reinehr (2011) has also emphasized that large numbers of children are suffering from obesity issues because of their bad eating habits. Children are increasingly eating high fat and high calorie fast food which is a major reason behind the rapid prevalence of obesity around the world. Obese children are prone to remain obese in their adulthood which can lead to devastating effects on their health. An obese children can suffer from various diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases etc. Schwartz (2003) has focused on the point that obesity can be easily prevented if an individual takes the strong initiative of changing his bad heating habits. The basic contention in this research paper is that the eating habits can be changed which can lead to prevent this epidemic issue of obesity. This research paper intends to propose a marketing campaign in UK which is aimed at increasing awareness about negative effects of obesity and bad eating habits. This marketing campaign has chosen the parents as its target group. This marketing campaign will focus on specific, measurable, relevant, attainable and time-bound (S.M.A.R.T) goals to reduce childhood obesity in UK.

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2.0 Problem of Childhood Obesity in the World

According to world health Organization (2102), child obesity is becoming a major health issue in many countries around the world. The problem is more prevalent especially in low and middle income countries. Within countries, the problem of child obesity is more common in urban areas as compared to that of rural areas. According to world health Organization (2102), number of obese children under the age of five has increased to forty two million in world. World Health Organization has estimated that nearly 2.6 million people die in the world as a result of obesity. The problem is rapidly increasing in many those countries where the consumption patterns of eating fast food are more common. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012), 14.94% population of United States is suffering from the problem of obesity. Similarly, many countries around the world are suffering from this problem of obesity. This is the reason why World Health Organization has labeled this problem of obesity as epidemic in 2010.

3.0 Negative Effects of Child Obesity on Health

According to Ahima (2011), obesity is a disease in which the extra fat causes serious health issues and diseases in individuals. The children who are obese today are likely to remain obese in their adulthood. Obesity causes various diseases both in children and adults. Obesity causes various breathing disorders in children. According to Dietz et al. (2007), it also causes various heart diseases like problems of coronary arteries. One of the serious consequences of obesity is the diabetes. Many people suffering from obesity also suffers from the problem of diabetes. Another negative effect of obesity is that it causes many other problems and diseases relating to
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gallbladder issue. According to Gortmaker et al. (1999), issues like high blood pressure and high cholesterol are frequently being occurred in the obese people. Heart stroke is another major problem which occurs due to obesity. Many studies have revealed the fact that various kind of cancers occur as a result of obesity. According to Ogden et al. (2006), cancers like prostate and bowel are increasingly occurring in men due to obesity. In women, cancers like breast and uterine are increasingly occurring due to obesity.

4.0 Causes of Child Obesity in the World

According to Keller (2018), there are various causes behind this epidemic of obesity. The most prevalent reason of obesity is that many people do not perform physical activities. There is a huge gap between the intake of the calories and the burning of those calories. People eat a lot of food and do not perform many physical activities. There are many reasons behind this trend of decreased physical activities. One of the reasons is that the lifestyles of the people have changed due to urbanization. Many people comfortably travel through their automobiles which doesnt burn many calories in the people. Trend of walking has been decreasing considerably. According to Kolata (2007), another major reason behind the decreased physical activity is that many of the creational activities are sedentary in nature. This is truer in the case of many obese children. Before massive urbanization, children used to go to parks and play with their friend and siblings. They were engaged most of the free time in physical activities and games. There was less trend of watching movies or playing videogames. Nowadays, the recreational activities of the children are sedentary in nature. Children watch cartoons and movies in their home. Many studies reveal

Child Obesity the fact that children are increasingly playing videogames on their play stations and spending most of their free time in home. This trend has resulted in decreased physical activities among children and this is one of the reasons behind this epidemic of obesity. The second important reason behind this epidemic of obesity is that many children are involved in bad eating habits. Children are eating high fat food which is extremely deficient in proper vitamins, proteins and micro-nutrients. These bad eating habits of children occur due to two major reasons. First major reason is the indifferent and uncaring role of their parents. Parents do not give due importance to the diet of their children. They allow them to eat foods which are not good for their health. According to Kopelmen (2005), many studies have revealed the fact that when both parents work, then the mother doesnt get the time to cook proper food in the home. On the way from their job, parents buy deficient food from the market. Also, many parents are not aware of the negative effects of obesity and bad eating habits. The second major reason is various societal trends. According to Must et al. (1992), the trend of fast food is increasing because it is cheap and easily available in many countries. Hence, many children around the world are suffering from obesity due to these bad eating habits. The third major reason is the social and economic reasons prevalent in the countries. In many

countries, the agricultural policies and distribution channels create such an environment in which fast food is promoted. Secondly, in many countries the prices of quality food has increased sharply. Due to these reasons, people increasingly rely on the easily available and relatively cheap fast food. According to Levy (2005), many marketing campaigns in advanced economies promote this fast food. Also, the urbanization has changed the consumption patterns of the society. Most of the time, both husband and wife work and then the wife dont have ample time at her disposal to cook proper food. Hence, many social and economic causes are also a factor in

Child Obesity the prevalence of obesity. According to Oddy (2012), the fourth major reason of obesity in children is that either one or both of the parents of the children are suffering from the genetic disease of obesity. Due to this genetic problem, the disease is also passed on their off springs. In such cases, there is less blame on the eating habits of the children. In such cases, a genetic therapy is done to remove this menace of obesity.

5.0 Symptoms and Diagnosis

The major symptom of obesity is the quick increase in the weight of the child. Parents must always pay attention to the fact that quick increase of weight may be result of the disease of the obesity. In such a case of quick increase in weight, parents must go to the doctors so that they may diagnose whether the child is suffering this disease of the obesity. According to Pool (2001), doctors use the criterion of Body Mass Index (BMI) to determine the extent of the problem of obesity in a patient. Body Mass Index (BMI) is basically a measure of human body. This measure is calculated while taking into account two most important factors of human body i.e. weight and height. Measurement of Body Mass Index (BMI) differs for different heights and sex groups. Doctors make proper Body Mass Index (BMI) charts to properly examine the gravity of the problem of obesity.

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6.0 Proposed Marketing Campaign to Reduce Child Obesity in UK

Many children are suffering from this epidemic of obesity. Like US, the problem of epidemic is also prevalent in UK. This research paper argues that this problem of obesity can be substantially decreased by an effective marketing campaign. This proposed marketing campaign will be done mainly through TV ads. Many ads will be given on the TV which will be aimed at increasing the awareness of the people about the negative effects of obesity and the bad eating habits. Besides these TV ads, this marketing campaign will give much importance to the use of social media as a medium of marketing. Many statistics of scientific studies reveal the trend that a large number of people are increasingly using various social networking sites to communicate with each other. Hence, our proposed marketing campaign will include the extensive use of social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter etc to market our information. Various Ads will be posted on these websites to draw the attention of our target group. For example, our Ads will aim to increase the awareness among the parents about the negative effects of obesity. Besides ads on social media, various online pages will be made on these websites which will explain the problem of obesity in detail. These pages will also include various flyers which will depict the negative consequences of obesity on health. One of the serious problems regarding childhood obesity is that both children and parents dont understand these negative consequences of obesity on their health. Even if they have some vague idea of it, they have no idea of how to prevent themselves from such epidemic disease. These pages will explain in detail the negative consequences of obesity on health. Various useful discussions will be posted on these pages to induce the members to actively engage in useful discussions. Parents and children will gain
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useful information and insights from the experiences and issues of many other patients. On these online pages, various flyers and videos will be posted on daily basis so that children and parents could easily understand the negative consequences of obesity on health. Various flyers will be posted to help the parents understand that they have the choice to determine what kind of food they want to give to their children. They have the choice to tell them that bad eating habits can have huge negative effects on their health. The following image displays such a choice which both parents and children have to prevent this epidemic of obesity.

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7.0 Target Market

This marketing campaign will target mainly parents to reduce childhood obesity. This paper argues that most of the children are unable to understand the both immediate and long-term devastating consequences of the obesity on their health. The urge of instant gratification and pleasure is very high in children and they are unable to reason out that they must not eat that kind of food which has huge fats and very low vitamins and proteins. This paper assumes that the children are unable to understand the long-term consequences of obesity. This is the reason why we have chosen parents as our target group. Our proposed marketing campaign will target parents to change their attitude towards the diets of their child. Our marketing campaign will tell the parents about all the different diseases which occurs due to this menace of obesity. They will be informed of various ways through which they can save the future of their children. They will be informed of all the causes of the obesity. They will be also told how they can reduce obesity in their children. This campaign will focus on all parents including those parents whose children dont have obesity at the time. They will be told that this problem can occur to anyone if they do not take care of their eating habits. This marketing campaign will reduce the obesity in UK by targeting parents of the children.

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8.0 S.M.A.R.T Goals of Proposed Marketing Campaign

According to Contento et al. (1995), S.M.A.R.T goals of any businesses are those goals which are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals. This proposed marketing campaign has set these S.M.A.R.T goals to decrease obesity in the UK. Three proper S.M.A.R.T goals have been formulated in this marketing campaign. Based on these three S.M.A.R.T goals, an evaluation of the marketing campaign will be done to determine the effectiveness of this campaign after the time period of three months. These three specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals are given as following: The first major goal is to change the attitude of the parents by informing them of the various causes and negative effects of obesity on the health of the children. Our marketing campaign argues that the role of the parents is very significant in achieving the final outcome of deceasing obesity in the UK. Parents will be urged to take an active responsibility of ensuring proper diet for their children. The second major goal of this marketing campaign is to change bad eating habits of children. Both parents and children will be informed that high fat and high calorie food lead to various diseases like diabetes and various cardiovascular diseases. They will be urged to eat healthy foods which are rich in vitamins and proteins. They must avoid carbonated drinks and must eat more and more fruits and vegetables. The following image displays that the children must eat more and more fruits and vegetables.

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The third major goal is to increase the trend of more and more physical activities. Instead of watching movies and cartoons in home, this campaign will urge the parents to instruct their kids to go to near playing field to play actual games. Instead of playing videogames at home, children must play outside. If children remain most of the time in their home, then a huge gap arises between the intake of their calories and the burning of those calories. Parents will be informed that this is one of the major reasons behind obesity in children.

9.0 Evaluation of Proposed Marketing Campaign

The evaluation of the effectiveness of proposed marketing campaign will be done mainly through the feedback of the members on the online pages on social media. Members will be given the feedback option to share their thoughts about our marketing campaign. They will be
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Child Obesity able to share with us their suggestions to further improve our marketing techniques. Another criterion of judging the effectiveness of our marketing campaign would be that how many new

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members are joining these online pages. The quick growth of member will be a major indicator through which we will be able to evaluate our effectiveness. If more and more people are increasingly joining our online pages and they are actively engaging in useful discussions, then it will indicate the effectiveness of our marketing campaign. Furthermore, attention will also be paid towards the point that how many members are actively engaging in various discussions on these pages. It will be evaluated that whether the members are taking initiatives of starting new discussion on their own. If they start new discussions or post some flyers on their own, then it will indicate the effectiveness of our marketing campaign. Besides these online pages, it will also be seen that whether the overall trend of obesity is decreasing in the country or not. If overall trend is decreasing, then it would be an indicator that our market campaign on TV is also effective.

10. Conclusion
The problem of childhood obesity has emerged as one of the major public health challenge in many countries around the world in twenty first century. Large numbers of children are suffering from obesity issues because of their bad eating habits and sedentary activities. Children are increasingly eating high fat and high calorie fast food which is a major reason behind the rapid prevalence of obesity around the world. Obese children are prone to remain obese in their adulthood which can lead to devastating effects on their health. An obese children can suffer from various diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases etc. These diseases can be easily prevented if an individual takes the strong initiative of changing his bad heating habits and take
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an active participation in physical activities. The role of parents is very crucial in determining the final outcome of reducing obesity in the children.

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References
Ahima, 2011, Digging deeper into obesity, The Journal Of Clinical Investigation, ISSN: 15588238, Vol. 121 no 6, pp. 2076-9

Contento, G. Balch, Y. Bronner, L. Lytle, S. Maloney, C. Olson, S. Swadener, and J. Randell, 1995, Nutrition Education for School-Aged Children, Journal of Nutrition Education Vol. 27, no. 6: 298-311

Dietz, W., Lee, J.S., Wechsler, H. et al. 2007, Health Plans Role in Preventing Overweight In Children and Adolescents. Health Affairs, Vol. 26, no 2: pp. 430-440

Gortmaker, S.L., Peterson, K., Wiecha, J. et al. 1999, Reducing Obesity Via a School-Based Interdisciplinary Intervention Among Youth: Planet Health. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. Vol. 153, no 4: pp. 409-418.

Keller, Kathleen 2008. Encyclopedia of Obesity. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications, Inc.

Kolata, Gina 2007. Rethinking Thin: The new science of weight loss and the myths and realities of dieting. Picador.

Kopelman, Peter G. 2005. Clinical obesity in adults and children: In Adults and Children. Blackwell Publishing. p. 493.

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Child Obesity Levy-Navarro, Elena 2008. The Culture of Obesity in Early and Late Modernity. Palgrave Macmillan.

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Must, A., Jacques, P.F., Dallal, G.E. et al. 1992, Long-Term Morbidity and Mortality of Overweight Adolescents. A Follow-Up of the Harvard Growth Study of 1922 to 1935. The New England Journal of Medicine. Vol. 327, no 19: 1350-1355.

Oddy, Wendy H.; 2012, Infant feeding and obesity risk in the child. Breastfeeding Review, Vol. 20 no 2, pp. 7-12.

Ogden, C.L., Carroll, M.D., Curtin, L.R., et al. 2006, Prevalence of Overweight and Obesity in the United States, 1999-2004. JAMA. Vol. 295, no 13, pp. 1549-1555

Pool, Robert 200). Fat: Fighting the Obesity Epidemic. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.

Rabbitt, Aifric; Coyne, Imelda; 2012, Childhood obesity: nurses' role in addressing the epidemic. British Journal of Nursing, Vol. 21 no, 12, pp. 731-5.

Reinehr T, Wabitsch M (2011). "Childhood Obesity". Current Opinion in Lipidology Vol. 22, no 1, pp. 2125.

Schwartz, M.B. and Puhl, R. 2003, Childhood Obesity: A Societal Problem to Solve. Obesity Reviews, Vol. 4, no 1 pp. 57-71.

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