Media coverage of Canada ' s obesity epidemic: illustrating the subtleties of surveillance medicine

Obesity was once considered a lifestyle issue; recently it has become an ‘epidemic’. Media coverage presents an opportunity to explore this phenomenon. A framing analysis was conducted on obesity media coverage in one representative Canadian newspaper in 1996, 2000 and 2005/06. The analysis finds that by 2005, an obesity epidemic is unquestioned. However, it does not support others’ findings that obesity is attributed to the decline of western civilization and blamed on lazy individuals who overeat. To relate obesity to such factors flies in the face of capitalistic progress, which demands continued production and consumption. Obesity in Canadian media is presented almost as an opportunity: an obstacle impeding national progress, but one that with a great deal of collective, focused effort, can be overcome. Armstrong's ‘surveillance medicine’, where responsibility for one's health is internalized, focuses the discussion. In turn, the analysis builds on Armstrong's concept, illustrating that the downloading of responsibility to the citizen is not a one-way transfer. The state may benefit by shifting the responsibility for health to the individual, but there are benefits to reclaiming that responsibility at times. An epidemic provides an opportunity to strengthen national pride and enhance an increasingly significant Canadian health research enterprise, thereby stimulating the economy and positioning the country as a world leader. This does not suggest that calling obesity an epidemic serves no population health goals, but simply highlights that by creating a groundswell of concern that in turn justifies immediate action, it does much more.