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18 October 2006

Obesity: Another Inconvenient Truth

Over 80% of adults acknowledge that individuals are most responsible for their gaining weight: fast food restaurants were mentioned by only 6% of the respondents and 2% mentioned food companies. Quite a disconnect between what the experts are preaching and what the consumer reality seems to be!

Despite this focus on personal responsibility, consumers tend not to follow their own advice. While 62 percent of U.S. consumers see the value in taking up a sport, hobby or exercise regime as a weight control strategy, only 32 percent of those surveyed have actually tried it...

A major factor in consumers’ unwillingness to follow through with healthy lifestyle changes could be our modern ‘convenience culture’. Nearly one-fifth (18 percent) of U.S. consumers surveyed said that the main factor leading to weight gain is that modern life is too easy for people to make an effort toward healthy living. This cause was beaten out only by lack of exercise (29 percent) and the vast availability of junk food (19 percent).

Source: ACNielsen LifeChoices study via The Morning Cup.

So let me see if i have this - people feel responsible for the choices they make among all the opportunities that are available for them to engage in behaviors that compete with achieving and maintaining a healthier weight. So do possible solutions exist in providing them with more (healthier) options, or in reducing the number of competitive opportunities? And before you choose the first one, flip through your television channels and make a choice of what to watch - more choices are not necessarily better.

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Posted at 06:27 AM in Audience Research, Obesity Prevention |

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