8A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY BIRY KANSAN
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2007
HEALTH
TV spots target obesity promote healthy habits
Critics say ads are too indirect, should show overweight people for more dramatic effect
BY MIKE STOBBE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ATLANTA — Drunks swimming in gin, smokers in body bags and dopers living with their parents deep into adulthood. Those are among the public service ads shown in the past.
But the government's new batch of obesity spots declines even to show a fat person, let alone wag a finger for gluttony or sloth.
No one is advocating public service announcements that ridicule fat people; experts say such spots would do more harm than good. But critics complain that the three new spots premiering this month are a wimpy attack on the costly and deadly explosion of obesity in America.
"It's so namby-pamby I think people will shrug it off," said Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocacy organization.
The three new spots are the latest in a series created by the Ad Council and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which try to tackle the nation's problem with ads that encourage healthy snacking and taking the stairs.
Creators of the "Small Steps" campaign, funded by the government at more than $1.5 million a year, cite survey data for 467 adults which showed those who saw the ads did more walking and adopted some other healthy habits than those who didn't see
the ads
But critics say such a survey is hardly proof of success, and the nation's fat problem is clearly getting worse — more than one in three U.S. children are overweight or obese, and two in three adults are.
"I think 'Small Steps' is a euphremia for small vision," said Kelly Brownell, director of Yale University's Center for Eating and Weight Disorders.
The "Small Steps" campaign began in 2004. It was created for free by McCann Ericickson New York, the ad agency that created the MasterCard "Priceless" campaign. Six TV spots have aired so far, all professionally produced and humorous, highlighting tips to healthier living.
This month, three more spots joined the rotation, along with a multimedia campaign focusing on exercise. The new anti-obesity TV spots show trim or slightly sluggy people noticing blobs of fat on a hotel room floor or in a theater. They comment that someone must have lost it by eating healthy snacks.
The spots' creators say they learned in focus groups that many people are intimidated — hopeless, even — about the sustained changes needed to slim down.
"So many people, when they think about losing weight, see it as a Sisyphean task — I have to lose weight but I can't fit it into my busy schedule," said Peggy Conlon, president of the Ad Council.
The ads offer easily achievable tips that empower people to make positive changes, she added.
FOOTBALL
Jayhawk fans are a bunch of followers
Winning record prompts recent rise in KU crowds at away games
Ku fans celebrate their team's victory against Colorado on Saturday in true KU fashion by waving the wheat. Supporters have been following the team to road名 numbers in larger numbers this year sourced by the team's success.
BY THOR NYSTROM
tnystrom@kansan.com
Anna Faltermeler/KANSAN
It isn't even November and already Kansas sports fans are traveling en mass to see their favorite team. A 7-0 start to the football season has reinvigorated a recently apathetic fan base, making it no longer glib to fanatically follow the perennially ranked basketball team.
Kansas sold about 1,600 tickets to Saturday's game against Colorado, but the Athletics Department estimated more than 3,000 Jayhawk fans were at the contest. Colorado reported 51,940 in attendance.
Associate Athletics Director Jim Marchiony said the team's success had spurred ticket sales in all venues. The Jayhawks have sold out their Nov. 3 contest against Nebraska and the Nov. 23 game
Kate Jayne, Park Ridge, III, senior,
has seen all seven KU games in
person after traveling to Manhattan
and Boulder. She said she could
"It will take time. This year will definitely make an impact on next year and beyond."
in Arrowhead Stadium against Missouri.
KATE JAYNE Park Ridge,Ill., senior
Marchiony said there had been a run on tickets to Kansas' last home game Nov. 16 against Iowa State and the Athletics Department expected more of that this week.
"Kansas football fans have been terrific for a long time," Marchiony said. "All it takes to get that base growing is more wins. Coach Mangino, his staff and the players are proving that, so I expect the crowds to keep getting bigger."
envision a time when lajahwak football fans would follow the team with the same vocation as the school's basketball fans.
This year will definitely make an impact on next year and beyond."
Sarah Hogan, an Eagan, Minn., senior who also traveled to both Manhattan and Boulder, said she
At Colorado, the pro-Kansas crowd, although only a percentage of total patrons, was emphatic. The Rock Chalk chant showered Folsom Field from different pockets of the stadium as the Jayhawks knelt the ball and bled the remainder of the clock to hold onto a 19-14 victory.
Kansas fans then sang the Alma Mater as dejected Colorado players sulked from the field.
was surprised by the large contingent of Jayhawk fans because of the long drive.
"If we would have played like we did last year, we wouldn't have driven eight hours to watch them play." Hoan said.
Hogan already could see the perils of apathy creeping into another team's fan bases. After experiencing nontop scorn in Manhattan, the senior said she was only mildly bothered in Boulder.
"We got harassed by Colorado
fans, although they were a lot friendlier than K-State fans". Hogan said. "We talked to some CU fans the night before, and I think they were expecting to lose anyway."
With success comes expectation. The lajayhawes will be road favorites again on Saturday as they travel to College Station to take on Texas A&M, Marchiony said the Athletics Department had sold about 1,000 tickets as of Monday morning.
Edited by Jeff Briscoe
Anna Faltermeyer/KANSAN
The Jayhawk faithful show the ESPN camera what they think their team should be ranked after a 31-19 victory Saturday in Colorado. The team climbed to No. 9 in the BCS rankings.