If you’re holding the gun, who is pressing the trigger?

Post three

By Marie Good

When considering the stakeholders of the issue of obesity and healthy living, you better clear your schedule for the next hour, make a cup of tea and have several large pieces of paper on standby to record all the major participants you can think of. The world of health is the world we live in every day and are unable to simply take a holiday from. As humans it is within us and around us every moment of our lives, which is precisely why everybody and everything we are, plays a part in how it functions in the bigger picture.

During a class exercise recently, I was required to do just that (minus the cup of tea, sadly). With my group we wrote down as many stakeholders as we could and positioned them in line of most important and influential to least. Gaining this overview we uncovered some insightful and surprising positioning within the list. Some stakeholders we had thought would be big players in the issue, when compared to others, were actually less important than those we initially considered less important. For example, economic position was deemed of higher influence than that of social media in its line of influence. This insight lead me to the idea that healthy living may just be a luxury for those with a socio-economic affordability for it, leaving the poorer to become poorer and unhealthier.

Furthering on in class we decided to plot out the relationships and connections between stakeholders which formed an intense web of lines, communicating how complex this issue is and how many influences have other influences via other stakeholders.

On leaving my class I decided to pursue this map and create my own, with particular focus on four crucial areas to draw connection between the groups and view any overlaps in influence. After listing initial stakeholders for the four main groups; emotional, medical, humans and environmental, I decided to pick an important word from each group and link it up with words from alternate groups. This mapping exercise further displays the complexity of the issue. I was interested to see though, how substantial the human and emotional group was in connection and influence with other stakeholders.

During a following class a week later, another mapping exercise was conducted but this time it was not concerning stakeholders only, but any word that could be related or influential to my topic. My group decided to divide our answers into five categories; education, expectation, support, role models and social to address the question of who and how these elements are formed. We also made subcategories listing who would use those words in everyday conversations. From this exercise I drew the conclusion of support being a crucial element to the recovery of a healthy lifestyle, however, not a readily available offering in today’s society.

 

Image archive

These 7 mobile apps will help you find GMO and additive-free foods by Healthy Holistic Living, 2016

This image displays an emergence between the food and produce market and portable technology. It is a representation of how two unlikely elements can be paired through their connecting feature of data to create a further efficient source of information for tracking, keepsake or other personal reasons. Unlike written understandings of this, the picture allows us to see and interpret how the technology is used in the real world.

 

Farmacy by Piraro, 2011

A comic styled image with a humorous and witty catch, this image draws the audience in by utilising their knowledge of generalised pharmacy perception, as a place of medication and healthy influence and highlights the importance of eating healthy regularly in keeping the body in a positive state. The use of humour furthers the audience’s connection with the image, unlike traditional written statements and explanations.

 

5 ways to get fit and healthy by Women of Substance, 2015

A powerful image displaying a female actor kicking a mountain of junk food. The food has been made bigger than her, to symbolise how large the struggle is to rid our lives of such things. Images like the one above plant an idea into the minds of the audience quite quickly and efficiently, without the use of words.

Microbiome by NaturalHealth365, 2016

Unless you’re a doctor or studying the human biome, our internal structures are not something we like or have to think about much. This image almost acts as an infographic or informative insight into our internal gut system and how gut inflammations are caused through our biome. It assists our understanding in guiding our minds creativity towards imagining this as explained in words.

 

How your gut flora prevents you from getting fat and sick by Natural Mentor, 2015

Another powerful image, quite scientific in nature, suggesting humans are predominantly created from DNA and our genetics. This emphasis placed on merging the two highly recognisable forms is effective and easy to understand.

 

Magical ways to control your health and fitness by GagaTrends, 2015

This image is actually used as a feature image for a previous blog post of mine on the same topic, post one. In this blog post I gave an overarching view of obesity and healthy living subjects presented in the Australian press. The reason behind this image choice is because the items presented in the image are associated with our first thoughts of the term healthy living.

 

10 facts about obesity, by eNews channel Africa, 2014

Another image I have used as a feature image displays an overweight child, positioned next to a pizza box and playing video games. This, unfortunately is one of the stereotypes younger generations of people have today when the term ‘gamer’ or ‘overweight’ are used. It’s effective in conveying an emotive and therefore engaging and successful image.

 

Augmented reality fitness games coming to tablets and phones by TechRadar, 2013

The emergence of technology and physical activity has become an idea that seems to be accelerating at speed into shaping the future. This image is an example of augmented reality doing just this and encouraging people to get off their couches while gaming, instead of sitting, as pictured in the image above.

 

Food additives and behaviours by Yummy Tuckers, 2014

The image above displays a quite literal representation of the chemicals and additives being placed into a common household breakfast item. It is effective in doing so as these chemicals are usually hidden quite well (even on the information and ingredient panel) and the general consumer is not consciously recognising they are in what they are eating.

Doesn’t work, does it? by Kevin Prezzi, 2016

It’s no secret that our society is over medicated and under enthused about life in general. This image heavily communicates how reliant humans, as a collective, are on the pharmaceutical market. It suggests we are full yet still consuming medications, toxins and drugs ‘off a silver spoon,’ as the saying goes.

 

Reference list

Augmented reality fitness games coming to tablets and phones, 2013, TechRadar, date viewed 19 August 2016, < http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/augmented-reality-fitness-games-coming-to-tablets-and-phones-1188130 >.

Doesn’t work, does it, 2016, Kevin Prezzi, date viewed 20 August 2016, < http://www.kevinpezzi.com/blog/steve-jobs_mel-gibson_cancer_appearance.php >.

Food aditives and behaviours, 2014, Yummy Tuckers, date viewed 20 August 2016, < http://www.yummytuckers.com.au/food-additives-and-behavior/ >.

How your gut flora prevents you from getting fat and sick, 2015, Natural Mentor, date viewed 19 August 2016, < http://naturalmentor.com/how-your-gut-flora-prevents-you-from-getting-fat-and-sick/ >.

Magical ways to control your health and fitness, 2015, GaGaTrends,  date viewed 20 August 2016, < http://www.gagatrends.com/magical-ways-to-control-your-health-and-fitness/ >.

Microbiome, 2016, NaturalHealth365, date viewed 20 August 2016, < http://www.naturalhealth365.com/microbiome-gut-inflammation-1857.html >.

Piraro, D. 2011, ‘Farmacy,’ Bizarro, date viewed 25 August 2015, < http://pioneersettler.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/farmacy.jpg >

These 7 mobile apps will help you find GMO and additive-free foods, 2016, Healthy Holistic Living,  date viewed 22 August 2016, < http://www.healthy-holistic-living.com/these-7-mobile-apps-will-help-you-find-gmo-and-additive-free-foods.html >

5 ways to get healthy, 2015.,  Women of substance, date viewed 22 August 2016, < http://www.womanofstyleandsubstance.com/5-ways-to-get-fit-and-healthy/ >.

10 facts about obesity, 2014, eNews channel Africa, date viewed 21 August 2016, < https://www.enca.com/10-facts-about-obesity >.

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Mapping the participants/ Image archive

Stakeholders and Relationships

Post 3: Mitchell Soames

When attempting to map out the stakeholders for Obesity and healthy living one starts to comprehend just how many people or tangible/ intangible contributors impact the issue holistically.

Through working in a small group we were able to identify an array of different influences. One key insight was our realisation that challenged our initial thoughts admitting to thinking that social media was the biggest influence of obesity and healthy living, yet it scaled quite low when compared to somewhat uncontrollable circumstances such as economic position, (this may cause you to think we really don’t know what we are talking about) but humour me for a second.

If you were not in the position to get access to a good sources of fresh produce one has no choice but to gravitate towards cheaper options, foods with low nutritional substance or fast food. Also depending on the area you are living in a local supermarket might not be as accessible.

A week later we were asked to produce another map, this time we included any word that could be related or influential to the topic. We received feedback from our tutors and peers and began to break down our 5 key contributor based on our own personal believes, these included (in order) Role models, Support, Expectations, Education, Social.

What  was interesting is that most of these contributors are relative to one another; for example expectations would go hand in hand with support and when you think of role models I think your family specifically your parents, not having these three aspects working together can really create a struggle in your judgement and motivation to prevent or combat obesity and/or live a healthy

10 Research Images

Food Design 2012 ‘You are what you eat’

This image was found on tumblr with little information or research behind it. I was particularly drawn to it because of its clever use of composition to represent a person by combining a selection of fast food sources with heavy carbohydrate foods. It is a common trend to target the ‘human image’ for example this character is clearly over-weight and emotively unhappy portraying a pessimistic view to the effects of unhealthy choices both physical and psychologically.

Lesage, D. 2014 ‘Obesity starts from childhood’ 

This  image was made by a Graphic designer named Karen Hurley and Art director David Lesage for a advertising campaign for French Ministry of Health to promote awareness of childhood obesity. Again this image targets body image using an indulging image of an ice-cream which is easily relatable for both children and adults.

Parker, J. ND ‘Global threat waiting area’

I found that comics illustrations are quite powerful in their ability to use comedy to represent a serious issues such as obesity. For example in this image our understanding of all three issues (Obesity, bird flu and global warming) are heavily impacting factors on humanity. Yet the most concerning problem in this image is obesity cleverly represented by a weight distribution and the emotions shown on each characters face.
This image shows the reality of obesity (far more concerning) than any alarming virus or environmental fear in relation to mortality.

Raeside, 2016 ‘Obesity and health care system’

This comic is by Raeside which do alot of illustrtions targeting Healthcare systems and the Government. I chose this one because it struck me instantly. labelling the scale as our Healthcare system represents the lack of support or attention to a major problem which is Obesity. With the character shown still holding a soft drink and a shirt titled ‘Obesity’ tells me that he himself is completely oblivious to the problem.
This image differs from the rest because it is the first time that the issue is not specific to an individual but targets a support system that is not doing its part in helping people in need.

Personal trainingSF 2012 ‘One of the best ways to lose stomach fat’

Finding this artwork on a 42 ways to lose fat page didn’t give me a lot of insight to this image so I decided to dig deeper. I found that it is actually an advertising campaign for Companhia Athletica, ran by São Paulo whom collaborated with Brazilian advertising agency DM9 DDB on a set of captivating ads to motivate obese people to lose weight. There is a series of the same style silhouette characters with fit and athletic bodies imprisoned inside.
This is the first image that I can see the two (over-weight and fit) subjects used in contrast expressing the intrinsic belief that wants change as a physical element.

Katie Couric 2014 ‘Fed Up’

This image was incredibly educational using a simple comparison to effectivvely communicate the ‘hidden’ sugars in different  products.  The purpose is to open people’s eyes to products which may seem harmless because of its use, yet by contrasting them with a product that one could assume is loaded with sugar/ unhealthy can lead to somone having a changed perspective with their food section

Ahfon, 2008 ‘Anti-obestiy campaign’

I found this image to be the first one that represented an obesity treatment with a negative connotation suggesting that children have no choice but to be shaped into something that is more ‘perfect’ in appearance. Also the language is very in-formal using slang such as ‘fatty’ to single out the children, which are shown in a distressing manner.

DRL: Heart 2010 ‘Don’t treat Diabetes to your heart.’

This advertisement was quite similar to my second image again targeting sweets and associating ice-cream with something that is loaded with sugar. Where it differs is the directed cause/ impact showing the heart as a heavily effected organ.
Unlike my other images this one uses text to resonate with its audience “People with diabetes are 2 to 4 times likely to get heart disease” further reassuring the issue.

Granlund, G. 2012 ‘World wide obesity’

This image is unique as it targets a broad scale, combining the world with a human which seems to be ignoring the obvious weight problem. The text prompts a reaction with an alarming 30% increase of obesity it seems this image is communicating a lack of acknowledgement of a serious issue world wide.

 

Piraro, D. 2014 Then, sometime after the invention of home computers, things began (…)

I feel that this image was the first to suggest technology as a major problem in relation to weight-gain. Relying on humour in both the text and using the  human evolution ending in an obese figure proposes a projection of our future if we as humans let technology take control of our livelihood.

 

REFERENCES

Food Design 2012 ‘You are what you eat’  viewed 25 August 2016 <http://artpixie.tumblr.com/post/26297901007&gt;

Lesage, D. 2014 ‘Obesity starts from childhood’ 2014– knowing your portions’ viewed 25 August 2016 <http://www.davegranlund.com/catoons/2012/07/24/world-obesity/&gt;

Parker, J. ND ‘Global threat waiting area’ viewed 26 August 2016  <https://collaborationnation.wikispaces.com/file/view/parker.gif/33093359/parker.gif&gt;

Raeside, 2016 ‘Obesity and health care system’ viewed 26 August 2016  <http://raesidecartoon.com/vault/obesity-health-care-system/&gt;

Personal trainingSF 2012 ‘One of the best ways to lose stomach fat’– knowing your portions’ viewed 26 August 2016 <http://personaltrainingsf.com/top-42-ways-to-lose-belly-fat-fast&gt;

Katie Couric 2014 ‘Fed Up’viewed 28 August 2016 <http://blogs.babycenter.com/products_and_prizes/the-film-the-food-industry-doesnt-want-you-to-see/&gt;

Ahfon, 2008 ‘Anti-obestiy campaign’ viewed 28 August 2016 <http://blog.omy.sg/ahfon/archives/52&gt;

DRL: Heart 2010 ‘Don’t treat Diabetes to your heart.’viewed 28 August 2016 <http://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/drl_heart&gt;

Granlund, G. 2012‘World wide obesity’ viewed 28 August 2016 <http://www.davegranlund.com/catoons/2012/07/24/world-obesity/&gt;

Piraro, D. 2014 Then, sometime after the invention of home computers, things began (…) viewed 28 August 2016 <http://www.thecomicstrips.com/subject/The-Obese+Weight+Loss-Comic-Strips-by-Bizarro.php&gt;