After a lot of criticism and the #Ashamed Twitter chat party to raise awareness of the Georgia ad campaign by Strong 4 Life addressing childhood obesity, the ads are coming down this month. If you haven’t heard about this campaign, it features black and white billboards of overweight elementary-aged children with guilt-inducing text. The billboards are targeted at the parents of the one million obese children throughout the state of Georgia, but the concern is that kids will see these messages and feel an incredible amount of shame, ridicule and guilt about their weight.
The efforts of those protesting these ads have paid off and they will all be removed sometime this month. While the fight against obesity is a very important one, the fight must be against obesity and not obese people. “Obesity prevention campaigns are a good thing, but they need to be done humanely. Partnering with families to help them instead of throwing daggers at them is the most humane way to get this done,” said Leah Segedie, the mom behind BookieBoo and Mamavation who spearheaded a campaign against the billboards.
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It might be Friday, but we stayed in tonight. We participated in Leah Segedie’s Twitter chat, #Ashamed, to raise awareness for the Georgia advertising campaign by Strong4Life attempting to curb the rampant childhood obesity epidemic in the state. If we’d been at the bar like everyone else celebrating TGIF it would have been standing room only. According to Leah there were 544 people tweeting on #Ashamed tonight. “I worked harder on that party than any I’ve ever done,” Leah told us shortly after the chat ended.
To show just how powerful social media is, or maybe how powerful Leah Segedie at BookieBoo and Mamavation is, this Twitter chat was organized practically over night and had a lot of interest, as that count of 544 shows. Additionally, Leah shared other stats, like 13 million impressions and 4859 tweets posted in the one-hour chat.
Leah told us she had two goals for #Ashamed. “First, to petition Strong 4 Life to take the billboards down. Second, to talk about the issue in a way that’s not shameful and gets the word out.” The public outcry over this campaign has been loud enough that some have already been taken down. The hope is that tonight’s nearly 600 voices on Twitter will remove them from the remaining areas, like Atlanta.
“Just take the damn things down,” Leah shouted. “It’s over and done with.”
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Meet Leah Segedie. Leah’s incredible weight loss journey started four years ago, when she weighed 253 pounds. She was an athlete, but an eating disorder left her binging on food and maintaining a size 14. When her father was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare cancer caused by asbestos exposure, Leah was 25, with a rocking PR career, and a voice inside that told her she had to care for him.
Watch this video testimonial in which Leah shares the journey that helped her lose 170 pounds in four years, in the face of an eating disorder, her father’s death, and two pregnancies that delivered her two sons.
Click here to watch Leah’s True Weight Loss Story video.
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