Obesity

Whose side is Shrek on? asked Bruce Horovitz in USA Today. The child advocacy group Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood wants to know if the animated green ogre is going to use his popularity with kids to promote McDonald's Happy Meals, candy, and soft drinks, or a more healthy lifestyle. Shrek, it seems, is living a double life. In public-service TV commercials made by the Department of Health and Human Services, Shrek campaigns against childhood obesity, telling kids to get off their rear ends and play 'œfor an hour a day.'' But in product campaigns tied to the about-to-be-released Shrek sequel, the portly ogre will soon be hawking a veritable smorgasbord of fattening and unhealthy foods, from 'œogre-sized' packages of M&Ms to Shrek-themed Happy Meals to special Cheetos that turn mouths and fingers green. 'œThe food industry and the government can't have it both ways,' says Susan Linn, co-founder of the child advocacy group. 'œEither Shrek's a pitchman for junk food or a spokesman for health and well-being.''

'œFire the ogre,' said the Chicago Sun-Times in an editorial. Our nation is in the midst of an epidemic of childhood obesity, with the number of overweight kids tripling over the past two decades. With more than 25 million kids and teens dangerously overweight, the federal government should not be sending mixed signals by associating a pro-exercise campaign with a corpulent, junk food'“gorging monster. Does Shrek have no shame? asked The New York Times. Perhaps he can rationalize his 'œdual role' by noting that if you eat the garbage he's promoting, 'œyou will become as stout and potbellied as he is, and will really, really have to exercise to take off the excess pounds.' But his hypocrisy will leave kids confused, so the government should find a new, more convincing spokesman.

Boston Herald

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