Written by Jane Tucker | Wednesday, 21 January 2009 | There is 1 comment
The results are designed to shock children into seeing how they will end up 
The latest government campaign to highlight the dangers of children eating too much has used computer generated images to show how a normal and healthy ten year old girl could end up if she does not continue to get exercise and eat healthily.
The girl called Poppy Taylor was photographed and then her image was put into a computer which digitally aged her to 50 years old and fattened her. The results are designed to shock children into seeing how they will end up if they don’t take care of themselves.
The government has unveiled a whole lot of health campaigns which are expected to cost in the region of £275million and this one is called Change4Life. Ten other children from around the London area were also asked to be photographed and were digitally changed for the campaign which will be advertised in different parts of the capital.
London has a particularly bad problem with child obesity with some of the worst statistics in the UK. It is estimated that almost 25 percent of London children are overweight by the time they get to secondary school. Some reports say that if the current trend of increasing obesity continues 90 percent of UK children will have a weight problem by the year 2050.
Poppy’s mother said that she was so shocked with the digitally altered ‘after’ photograph of her daughter that she has already modified the family’s eating habits and is encouraging them to get exercise. She said that when she goes to the supermarket she looks out for lower fat alternatives and wants to encourage the whole family to go swimming together.
The government has admitted that part of the idea was to shock parents into making their children eat healthily by showing how they would turn out if they didn’t. The chances are that parents are more likely to look after the health and weight of their children than they are their own weight. Parents nevertheless must lead by example and also eat healthily if they want to influence their children properly.
