Abstract
Obesity is a major medical health challenge; however, the associated stigma represents a harmful and obstructive obstacle to treatment. This study’s purpose was to explore the portrayal of obesity in UK national newspapers. A purposive sample of 312 editions (weekday: n = 208; weekend: n = 104) from 6 newspapers (3 broadsheet; 3 tabloid) was analyzed. All text related to obesity was content analyzed. In total, 349 articles were analyzed. Weight stigmatization and the portrayal of overweight and obesity as a moral digression were evident. Findings demonstrate that U.K. national newspapers attribute obesity to controllable causes. Caricatured portrayals of overweight and obesity were evident and may play a pivotal role in the formation and maintenance of anti-obesity attitudes.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 16-28 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Stigma and Health |
| Volume | 1 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Anti-obesity attitudes
- Weight stigmatization
- Overweight and obesity
- Newspaper portrayal
