Stigmatization and Discrimination in Obesity Project (2021-Present)

My Role is Heavy, What’s Your Role?

Launched in 2021 under the leadership of Novo Nordisk and the Turkish Association for the Study of Obesity, the first year of the project focuses on the role of the media in stigmatization and discrimination in obesity.

Starting Point of the Project

The project ‘Rolüm Ağır, Peki Senin Rolün Ne?’ was developed by TOAD based on the book ‘Rolüm Ağır – Obezitede Ayrımcılık ve Damgalama’.

The project, which includes the first research in this field conducted in Türkiye, draws attention to the stigmatization and discrimination faced by individuals with obesity in education, social life, business life, media, and health. Stigmatization and discrimination not only limit the social lives of individuals with obesity, but also cause barriers to obesity treatment. The project “Rolüm Ağır, Peki Senin Rolün Ne?” sends the message that everyone in society has an important role to play in obesity.

What is the Media’s Role?

The first year of the campaign, based on the book, focused on changing the language, images and sources used by the media in obesity. We launched our project with a press launch with TOAD experts and academics from Ankara University Faculty of Communication.

We have created an awareness website, rolumagir.com, where they can easily access important information about the obesity disease, images, and resources that will serve as a model for journalists.

We organized an obesity survey for members of the press on digital platforms, as well as a media guide for them.We organized an obesity survey for members of the press on digital platforms, as well as a media guide for them.

We started a news content scan to see if the news in the press led to stigmatization and discrimination in terms of obesity content and images.

Our project will continue with seminars to educate media members about obesity through the organization of news workshops.

We Changed Media!

According to our findings, non-obese individuals were less frequently featured in the main images in the news in the first four months (16.9%), but more frequently featured in the last four months (24.1%).

Stereotyped images (scale device-measuring tape-refrigerator, for example) were more common in the first four months (11.6%), but less so in the last four months (6.4%). The inclusion of non-obese people in the news and the decrease in the use of stereotyped images is a positive and remarkable development.

According to the research report, the use of obesity-related symbols in news images such as scale devices, measuring tapes, refrigerators, fast food, and so on has a negative impact on the public’s perception of obesity. Bodies trapped in measuring tape, scales, or weighing machines reinforce the constructed perception of ideal weight.

People with obesity are presented as people without willpower

Obese people who hold ready-made, unhealthy foods in their hands and avoid healthy foods are portrayed as lacking willpower in the analyzed news images. Individuals with obesity are frequently reminded of the need to control themselves or what they eat, and it is hoped that this repetition will provide motivation to patients. However, the repeated emphasis on “control” makes people feel oppressed and creates the impression that they must cope with this disease because they are unable to control themselves. Obesity, on the other hand, is not a willpower issue, nor is it a disease for which only the individual is responsible.

Ranking changed in obesity causes

Excessive and incorrect eating habits (20.4%), inadequate physical activity (17.6%), technology and modern living conditions (7.2%), and hormonal and metabolic factors (4.3%) were the causes of obesity, a multifactorial disease, in the first four months, and excessive and incorrect eating habits (20.1%), inadequate physical activity (14.3%), and hormonal and metabolic factors (4.3%) in the second four months.

Generally, news reports on how technology and modern living conditions cause obesity focus on children. It is positive that hormonal and metabolic factors, which are recognized as medical causes of obesity, were among the top three causes in the news during the second four months of the year. Furthermore, insufficient physical activity was one of the top three reasons for discrimination and stigmatization in the second four months, but there was a decrease in this category. Increased media coverage of obesity’s causes will result in a better public understanding of the disease and its solutions.

News headlines more explanatory

The report, which also examined the use of language in obesity news, shared data on news headlines. According to the data, 68.8% of news headlines were informative and explanatory in the first four months, rising to 87.3% in the second four months. While worrying or alarming headlines increased from 22.1% in the first four months to 9.2% in the second four months, dramatizing headlines decreased from 2.6% in the first four months to 1.2% in the second four months. The informative content of news headlines increased in the last four months compared to the first four months.

In terms of news text expressions and event descriptions, 83.3% of the news published in the first four months and 91.5% of the news published in the second four months were informative and explanatory. According to reports, 10.9% of news items in the first four months and 6.6% in the second four months were disturbing or alarming. On the other hand, dramatizing news items decreased from 4.4% in the first four months to 1.4% in the last four months.

Check out the results of the research!