British Heart Foundation’s Crusade Against Potato Chips
This photo of a girl guzzling a huge bottle of cooking oil is shocking. The caption reads: “What goes into crisps goes into you. Some crisps contain 33% cooking oil…” (FYI, Brits call potato chips “crisps.”) The ad is run by the British Heart Foundation which is warning people to cut back on this popular junk food.
I don’t disagree that crisps aren’t the healthiest thing to eat, but if it’s just one small part of a complete diet, what’s the harm? No one has a perfect diet. And if you think you have one, I’d like to hear from you for the Hearty Habits series.
It’s easy to shock (disgust?) people with facts, but much harder to change their habits. Wouldn’t it be more effective to show pictures of people eating wholesome food than downing a bottle of cooking oil? To show alternatives to junk food that people appear to enjoy eating?
What do you think about shock ads for encouraging healthy living?
BBC News, September 21, 2006
Technorati Tags: british heart foundation, bhf, potato chips, crisps, diet, health, disease, illness, heart disease, heart, cardiovascular, cvd
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POSTED IN: Hearty Diet
5 opinions for British Heart Foundation’s Crusade Against Potato Chips
Bryan Potts
Oct 2, 2006 at 5:19 pm
I think the photo of guzzling oil makes a great point. Most people aren’t aware of the stuff in junk food and making them aware would help them to cut back if they eat 8 oz of chips every day.
-Bryan
InsureBlog
Oct 3, 2006 at 1:02 pm
Grand Rounds: 3rd Anniversary Edition…
I may have to update my (in)famous food pyramid: this post at A Hearty Life informs us that the Brits are looking to ban their ubiquitous “crisps.”…
David Harmon
Oct 4, 2006 at 2:55 am
I think it’s a great ad. People think of potato chips and their cousins as “light snacks” — it really isn’t obvious just how much grease is in there. This ad makes the point clearly, making the viewer uncomfortable without going for some major gross-out that would just turn them away from the ad rather than the target.
Hsien-Hsien Lei, PhD
Oct 5, 2006 at 12:43 pm
Bryan: You really think people don’t know that junk food is bad for them?! Yikes. The situation is worse than I thought.
David Harmon: Oi. Potato chips as “light snacks.” What is this world coming to?!
A Hearty Life » Doubt Kills - Listen to Your Heart!
Nov 23, 2006 at 8:17 pm
[…] Yowzers! Kudos to the British Heart Foundation for another shockingly effective ad campaign - Doubt Kills. This time, they’re telling us to call 999 (911 in some places) if ever we feel chest pain. How many people would you guess ignore chest pain? Almost two out of three would call someone other than the ambulance. […]
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