Pink Fatigue? JCPenney's Sexist Merchandise. Smoking and its Box Office Impact. What Am I Reading This Week?

Here are the top 5 stories I'm following this week:

1. Amid breast cancer month- Is there pink fatigue? A very important public health story. "Awareness" does not equal behavior change (e.g., increased screenings or access to medical care). A related story appeared last week in Upstream: A forum on interdisciplinary health communication.

2. JCPenney CEO responds to petition to stop selling sexist clothing marketed to young girls like "I'm too pretty to do homework". The company is using this incident as a "teachable moment".

3. The use of social media in street protests can be effective for both protesters and police. A story in ScienceDaily.

4. Smoking is a drag at the box office. An analysis of top-grossing movies from the past decade shows that films with smoking make less money.

5. Video game can reduce fatigue in African American women with lupus. A pilot study to explore using Wii Fit to reduce fatigue.

What are you reading this week?

Dr. Pepper Ten: A "Manly" Campaign That Promotes Gender Stereotypes Instead of Health for Men

Yesterday while on the elliptical machine at the gym and watching ESPN (surprise! women watch ESPN), I had the displeasure of seeing the new commercial for Dr. Pepper Ten no less than five times.

Dr. Pepper Ten is a new 10-calorie drink being rolled out by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group Inc after their client research revealed that men are hesitant to drink diet drinks because they aren't "manly" enough.

The TV commercials that I watched showed men with huge muscles driving through the jungle, shooting guns, and battling snakes. The men say things like, "Hey ladies. Enjoying the film? Of course not. Because this is our movie and this is our soda, you can keep the romantic comedies and lady drinks. We're good."

According to several online reports (e.g., the MSNBC link above), the campaign also developed a Facebook page which contains an application that allows it to exclude women from viewing content. In addition, the page includes games and videos aimed at being "manly." Several twitter users also report that the campaign encourages viewers to "rat on their friends for not being manly". If true, I have no idea how "unmanly" behavior is being reported.

My analysis:

It is great that advertisers are using focus group and other data to develop products and ad campaigns. They taught many of us in public health the importance of these strategies and we are forever grateful. However...

This campaign promotes strict gender stereotypes: Men act like this and women act like this- no exceptions! This dangerous norm contributes to serious public health problems. For example, the traditional ideology of masculinity has been explored for its relationship to negative outcomes like bullying and high risk sexual behaviors.

This campaign attempts to encourage men to drink a "healthier" soda (less calories, real sweeteners) without making them feel like they are dieting...because after all- dieting is only for women. Too bad the obesity rate is hovering between 32-35% for both men and women.

I have seen weight loss/health for men done much more effectively by other companies without insulting viewers. For example, after they saw their services being utilized by more men, Weight Watchers and NutriSystem rolled out men's programs. Weight Watchers presents strategies for making healthy choices in settings where men may find themselves socially (e.g., at a BBQ or at the bar). To reduce the social stigma around participation, they recruited strong male role models like former NFL quarterback Dan Marino. An ABC story on the companies' programs says "Calorie Counting Can Be Macho".

The strategy used by NutriSystem and Weight Watchers to reduce the stigma around healthy behaviors will be much more effective long-term than simply tricking people into being healthy.

For those readers who think I'm only offended by the campaign because I'm a woman, please see a few tweets from Tuesday night...authored by men. The first by my husband, who wrote multiple posts on Dr. Pepper Ten before I ever voiced my disgust with this campaign:

@jeff_underscore: "Dr. Pepper 10 - I think your ad campaign is insane, insensitive and sexist and unfortunately everywhere".

@sorryeveryone: ".@drpepper i really liked your soda but you know what I like more? treating women like they're human beings and letting men be themselves".

Readers: What do you think of this campaign? Do you think it will be effective in getting men to drink these "healthier" sodas?

#NoHomos on Twitter, "50/50" looks at Cancer, Johnny Depp's Rape Comments, Chris Christie's Weight, and Steve Jobs: What Am I Reading This Week?

Whew- it has been a busy week for Pop Health! Here are the top 5 stories I've been reading:

1. Twitter is no place for #NoHomo: Should Twitter take a more proactive stance regarding hate speech that can result in trending topics?

2. "50/50"- A Hollywood movie takes on cancer: Cancer has been a theme in many movies (e.g., "Funny People") and TV shows (e.g., "The big C" on showtime)- how does this movie compare?

3. Johnny Depp offers apology for rape remarks: Depp offers an apology for comparing being chased by paparazzi to being raped. Forgivable?

4. Chris Christie's Weight- Big problem or none of our business?: Although Gov Christie has recently announced that he will not run for President in 2012, the conversation continues about his weight and its influence on his ability to be a successful Governor or President. What do you think?

5. Steve Jobs and Pancreatic Cancer: There have been many stories about the death of Steve Jobs and the contribution of pancreatic cancer to his passing. I thought Celebrity Diagnosis did a nice job of guiding readers through his diagnosis.

Please use the comment box to tell me what you think about these stories and about others that you are reading this week!

The Case for the Food Reward Hypothesis of Obesity, Part II

In this post, I'll explore whether or not the scientific evidence is consistent with the predictions of the food reward hypothesis, as outlined in the last post.

Before diving in, I'd like to address the critique that the food reward concept is a tautology or relies on circular reasoning (or is not testable/falsifiable).  This critique has no logical basis.  The reward and palatability value of a food is not defined by its effect on energy intake or body fatness.  In the research setting, food reward is measured by the ability of food or food-related stimuli to reinforce or motivate behavior (e.g., 1).  In humans, palatability is measured by having a person taste a food and rate its pleasantness in a standardized, quantifiable manner, or sometimes by looking at brain activity by fMRI or related techniques (2).  In rodents, it is measured by observing stereotyped facial responses to palatable and unpalatable foods, which are similar to those seen in human infants.  It is not a tautology or circular reasoning to say that the reinforcing value or pleasantness of food influences food intake and body fatness. These are quantifiable concepts and as I will explain, their relationship with food intake and body fatness can be, and already has been, tested in a controlled manner. 

1.   Increasing the reward/palatability value of the diet should cause fat gain in animals and humans

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(Dis)Connected: MTV Explores the Impact of Digital Drama on the Health and Safety of Young People

On Sunday October 10, 2011, MTV will premiere "(Dis)Connected". The movie will explore the experiences of four young people. They have never met in-person, but their lives collide online and are forever changed by their digital interactions.

The film supports the network's "A Thin Line" campaign which empowers youth to stand up against digital abuse of all kinds (e.g., bullying, discrimination, etc).

The movie is inspired (in part) by the tragic death of Abraham Biggs in 2008. Biggs, a 19-year old college student, live streamed his suicide on the internet, with some users egging him on and some trying to talk him out of it.

(Dis)Connected supports an ongoing discussion in public health regarding the question: "Does technology help us or hurt us when it comes to issues such as bullying or suicide?" The answer is not clear. There are examples on each side. One year ago today, I wrote the post "Bullying: Is Technology Helping Us or Hurting Us?" The post was inspired by the dialogue of how technology may have contributed to the suicide of Tyler Clementi but also how it was being used in a positive way to prevent bullying in the aftermath (e.g., the "It Gets Better" project).

On her blog "Promoting Hope, Preventing Suicide", Elana Premack Sandler writes about research and advice for preventing teen and adult suicide. Just in the past year, she has extensively explored the issue of technology/social media and its impact on suicide prevention. Some example posts include: Facebook Support Networks (September 21); YouTube Prevents Suicide? (May 4); and Promoting Hope Through Social Media (April 13).

Let's all check out (Dis)Connected on October 10 and let the dialogue continue.

If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK or visit their website here.

Kissing on Southwest Airlines, Over-hyped Reebok Toning Shoes and More- What Am I Reading This Week?

There are many great Pop Health (Pop Culture- Public Health) stories in the news each week, so it can be difficult to narrow down my focus for a weekly post.

Therefore, I'm starting a new feature called- "What Am I Reading This Week?" to link you to my runner-ups:

1. Reebok agrees to settlement over "over-hyped" claims that its EasyTone shoes could tone leg and butt muscles better than regular shoes.

2. Perfect for football Sunday: Cheeseheads take issue with anti-cheese billboard (from groups promoting vegan diets).

3. L-Word actress gets kicked off Southwest flight for lesbian kiss (they say it was based solely on behavior, not gender).

4. Lady Gaga wants to make bullying illegal- wants meeting with the president.

Use the comment box to tell me what you're reading this week!

The Case for the Food Reward Hypothesis of Obesity, Part I

Introduction

When you want to investigate something using the scientific method, first you create a model that you hope describes a natural phenomenon-- this is called a hypothesis.  Then you go about testing that model against reality, under controlled conditions, to see if it has any predictive power.  There is rarely a single experiment, or single study, that can demonstrate that a hypothesis is correct.  Most important hypotheses require many mutually buttressing lines of evidence from multiple research groups before they're widely accepted.  Although it's not necessary, understanding the mechanism by which an effect occurs, and having that mechanism be consistent with the hypothesis, adds substantially to the case.

With that in mind, this post will go into greater detail on the evidence supporting food reward and palatability as major factors in the regulation of food intake and body fatness.  There is a large amount of supportive evidence at this point, which is rapidly expanding due to the efforts of many brilliant researchers, however for the sake of clarity and brevity, so far I've only given a "tip of the iceberg" view of it.  But there are two types of people who want more detail: (1) the skeptics, and (2) scientifically inclined people who want mechanism.  This post is for them.  It will get technical at times, as there is no other way to convey the material effectively.

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