Social constructions of obesity target population: an empirical look at obesity policy narratives

Abstract

The present article discusses the results of an empirical test of Schneider and Ingram’s target population framework in terms of the NPF, taking a controversial contemporary issue of obesity as the context for the study. According to Schneider and Ingram, people form normative judgments about policy target populations, which in turn influence the development of public policies serving these populations. A between-subject experiment was conducted to test the power of four policy narratives, devised in accordance with the framework, and to examine the effects of social constructions of target populations on public support for policies either penalizing or benefiting the target population. Findings indicate that social constructions of target populations play an important role in the policy process by triggering individuals to support policies helping and benefiting the positively constructed populations, and policies punishing the negatively constructed populations. In addition, blame and anger as well as sympathy were identified as critical normative judgments produced by social constructions and affecting public attitudes toward the policy issue.

Appendices

Appendix 1: Obesity message

Obesity represents a serious problem in the USA. Since 1980 prevalence of clinical obesity has doubled among the adults and tripled among children and adolescence. Scientists estimate that if the current trend continued, by 2030, 86.3 % of adults would be overweight or obese. Obesity is a serious health concern and is clearly associated with higher mortality rate and increased risk for a variety of health and mental issues such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, osteoarthritis, cancer, depression, and others. In addition, there are serious economic ramifications of obesity as it significantly contributes to the rising healthcare costs and indirect costs associated with absenteeism, social security insurance, productivity, and others. There are many factors contributing to obesity and both scientists and the public disagree on these factors. These factors range from genetic predisposition, personal choices, and socio-economic environment.

Appendix 2: Narratives

Advantaged narrative

Martin Burton is 45 years old and has been working as a mechanical engineer for 23 years. He is a valuable employee not only because of his experience but also because of his dedication and hard work. By working hard Martin ensures that his wife and three kids have everything they need to live a comfortable and care-free life. Unfortunately, Martin’s hard work has reflected on his weight and health. He now weighs 290 pounds and suffers from obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Martin’s weight upsets him as not only can’t he keep up with the energy of his three little kids, but it negatively affects his productivity at work. For example, during the last 3 months, Martin had to miss his work five times due to the health problems. Although Martin is worried about his weight, he has a hard time managing it. With his tight working schedule, he rarely finds time to get to the gym and while at work often eats fast food so he can get back to work as soon as possible. Martin wishes he could spend time active while outside with his wife and kids, however, parks and playgrounds are not easily available in a highly populated and traffic-congested city where Martin lives. Instead, every weekend Martin ends up at home playing board games with his family.

Contender narrative

Vincent Martin is a CEO of a large food corporation whose production ranges from cereals to pizza. At 43 years old, Vincent is a successful entrepreneur and over the years had earned his company billions of dollars. Of course, such success required much efforts and learning of marketing techniques from Vincent’s side to create and sell products that would attract an average consumer and win public’s loyalty. As obesity levels in the US plummeted, Vincent decided to launch a new food line called StayThin^® to satisfy the demands of his weight-conscious consumers. Research on the market had shown that consumers prefer food that is labeled as fat-free or whole-grain, and Vincent decided that designing a product with these characteristics would be his best bet. However, engineering a product that is healthy but tastes good is not easy, and Vincent had to make some tradeoffs. For example, he had to add sugar, various artificial additives, preservatives, and hormones to maintain the balanced taste of his cereals. Calculating his expected profit Vincent realized that it was too small, and finally decided to switch to high-fructose corn syrup from previously used natural sugar. Although Vincent realized that his new product will unlikely advance his customers’ health and weight goals, his desire to please the consumers’ demands and make profit on the sales overwhelmed Vincent’s worries and he proceeded with distributing his new product to the country’s supermarkets. However, 6 months after the product was released, Vincent received terrible news—a group of obese individuals started a lawsuit arguing that Vincent’s claims about his product as ideal for weight management were misleading. Vincent was devastated and could not understand at what point he made a mistake.

Dependent narrative

Tyler Young is an 8-year-old elementary school kid who prefers reading to physical activity. He loves learning, and even won a Spelling Bee competition last year. Unfortunately, Tyler’s school achievements didn’t advance his health, with his weight reaching the 130 pound limit over the last few years. The boy has asthma and has been in and out of the hospital nearly a dozen times. His weight makes it hard for him to run and play, and Tyler spends most of the time indoors playing on his computer or cheering his favorite baseball team on TV. His parents worry about Tyler’s weight but have a hard time helping Tyler lose those extra pounds. Both, Tyler’s mom and dad work most of the day trying to pay off the mortgage for the house they bought with Tyler’s birth. Although Tyler’s mom tries to fix something healthy and nutritious for the family every dinner, the rest of the day Tyler is left to himself in making the food choices throughout the day. Not surprisingly, hot-dogs, chips, and candy-bars prevail in Tyler’s diet.

Deviant narrative

Troy Wallace was raised in a poor family, struggling to make a living; and cheap calorie dense food was a staple in the family. Troy’s mother had little time to cook, so the family often ate their dinners at a local fast food restaurant where a hamburger on the side with fries and a large soda cost only $1.50. Now Troy is 31 years old, but little has changed in his diet. Working at Wal-Mart and surrounded by multiple food choices, Troy often buys easy-to-make prepackaged food and snacks along with soda to keep him awake. After work, he usually stops by a local fast food restaurant to satisfy his hunger. Troy’s diet and lifestyle eventually reflected on his weight and health. He now weighs 290 pounds and suffers from obesity, diabetes and hypertension. Although he is aware of his weight and the negative effects it has with his health, he views dieting and exercising as too much of a burden. Cooking from scratch seems to Troy too complicated, expensive, and time consuming compared to buying fast food or prepackaged food. Troy tried exercising a few times, but it didn’t bring the desired result, and Troy quickly gave up believing that it is not in his power to change his weight.

Appendix 3

See Table 7.

Table 7 Survey population demographic compared to US national population figures