Reaction: ‘Obesity is suicide’ campaign

I ran across the debate on Leslie’s blog, The Weighing Game at ivillage.com. These images, part of an advertising campaign by what I believe is a student, has sparked up controversy.

Can you really compare obesity to such a serious topic as suicide?

Personally, while I understand the underlying message, I don’t think of suicide and obesity in the same boat. Obesity is a slow killer, more comparable to smoking in my mind.

Suicide is a serious issue, and while obesity is too, I don’t agree with the comparison being made in the ads. The ads are shocking, creative, edgy, but in my opinion, slightly distasteful.

The mental illness associated with suicidal thoughts and behaviors is too distantly disconnected from the mental and emotional connections to overeating.

More so, I disagree with the cause behind the campaign promoting this message. Tiny print at the bottom of the ads reviles that this is for the Northern Bariatric Surgery Institute. Bariatric surgery is an option for obese individuals, but it’s not the only way to ‘save’ oneself from ‘suicide’.

What do you think about the ads? Is a message this sensitive necessary?