Rosa Vaquero, head of communications and Rachel Pidgeon, communications manager, Guy's and St. Thomas' Charity Visit the CharityComms website to view slides from past events, see what events we have coming up and to check out what else we do: www.charitycomms.org.uk

1. Reframing
childhood
obesity

2. We’re an independent,
place-based foundation

3. Building on current insights
from our early work
• We need to think about childhood
obesity as a normal response to an
abnormal environment
• Childhood obesity is a problem of
inequality
• Lack of opportunities to be healthy are
exacerbated by ‘scarcity’ (money, time
and headspace)
• Solutions don’t have to be complicated

4. The challenge: What we wanted to
achieve
Child obesity is a
problem of
willpower and bad
parenting
Environments
matter and can be
changed for the
better

5. Our approach

6. 1. They think it’s down to the moral failings of overweight people
2. They think it’s very bad and getting worse
3. They think it’s putting an unacceptable strain on the NHS
4. They find it almost impossible to think about prevention and
solutions (other than people eating less)
Phase 1 told us about how people think about
obesity in general
Phase 2 focused on child obesity and allowed us to explore these
themes further, particularly individual responsibility

7. Phase 2 was about
• Research
• Stakeholder engagement
• Media

8. The Ticking
Time Bomb
• People think of childhood obesity as a ticking time bomb
condemning children to an inevitable and unavoidable lifetime of
poor health and ultimately early death.
Failed Parenting
• Childhood obesity is a visible sign that parents have failed at all
their most important roles and responsibilities (setting a good
example, providing discipline, putting children first, protecting
children against outside threats). This is a dominant model, key to
people’s thinking about the drivers of childhood obesity.
Health
Individualism
By Proxy
• Given that members of the public assume health outcomes are
driven by choice and behaviours, the individual is held responsible
for their own health.
• With child obesity, this responsibility stays with the parent -
especially for children under 12 as people see it as the direct result
of poor choices that parents make for themselves as well as for
their children.
Research – key cultural models

10. 1. Make this about improving children’s health, use
values
2. Use metaphor to show how our surroundings
shape us – rivers, stage
3. Place individual stories in context to show how
surroundings affect us all – options not choices
4. Help people see what your facts and stats mean
5. Show how change is not just necessary, but
possible
Research – findings

11. Engagement
strategy

12. 1.
Strategic
partners
2.
Key
‘educators’
3.
Sector
forums
Sector engagement – influence,
expertise and reach

13. • 85% felt they had a clear understanding of childhood
obesity. 15% Did not
• 95% felt childhood obesity is solvable. 5% did not
• 67% said commissioning editors were interested in
childhood obesity and 33% said they were not
Media – what they think

14. • The opportunity to change the conversation and break
through the impasse
• The revelation that by using subtly different words
people see the issue from a different perspective
• The possibility of new content - especially if exclusive
Media – what they liked

15. So
what’s
next?

16. • Partnership
• Stakeholder engagement
and influencing
• Evaluation and
measurement
What’s our role?

20. What we learned
• How much we got wrong
• Understanding our role and the limitations of it
• Jump on opportunities
• What would we do differently - managing
expectations around pace

21. www.gsttcharity.org.uk
@GSTTCharity
Questions?

22. 5 March 2020
Conference: Changing hearts and
minds: social science insights for
communicators

23. Visit the CharityComms website to view
slides from past events, see what events
we have coming up and to check out
what else we do:
www.charitycomms.org.uk