Coke Blames Video Games For Obesity Problem
March 1, 2007 by Ingrid Diaz
Filed under Gaming
Ever since America has become aware of its increasing obesity problem, finger pointing has become the norm. Fast food restaurants and soft drink manufacturers have naturally come under public scrutiny for their part in the matter, forcing them into action.
Coca-Cola has released a series of diet drinks in the hopes of getting some of the heat off their backs, and shift the blame to someone else for a while.
So who does Coca-Cola want to shift the blame to? Video games, of course. Coke’s CEO recently told reporters, “Video games are a major part of the problem.”
I’d say you could probably shift blame to anything. Saying that video games are part of the problem is the same as saying that soft drinks are part of the problem and that fast food restaurants are part of the problem.
In the same way that Coca-Cola has made moves to shift their line of products to include a greater variety of diet drinks, you can’t disregard video games that have made strides toward getting players off the couch and into action. The Wii alone is an excellent example, as well as games like Kinetic and Dance Dance Revolution.
Are video games in a way responsible for obesity? Maybe. Not more so than films (bucket of popcorn with an extra large soda anyone?), or many other things for that matter.
Would you point to video games as a major cause of obesity?
I think it’s really a big number of factors.
Via | That’s Fit
Or maybe it’s the parents who don’t kick their kids outside after they’ve been sitting there for hours.
As for the adults who are obese and don’t go out? Well..they probably wouldn’t be going out regardless. If it’s not one thing it’s another.
Like you said, it’s a number of factors. No single problem can bear the blame. Can video games encourage it to some degree? Sure. But then so does TV and any other inside “hobby”. Hell if a person stayed inside and read books all of the time and weighed 300lbs would they say reading caused them to become fat?
The closed mindedness of people is both amusing and sad.
Everything that is listed – video games, popcorn, burgers, and soda – are catalysts. They help people achieve obesity (depending on the person’s genes, metabolism, and activity levels, of course) at a much faster rate.
However, we all make the choice to eat and drink unhealthy items and to sit in front of the T.V., computer, or gaming console for hours and hours. So you have it right and that coke blaming video games is no different than the video game industry blaming alcohol and sugar cookies, for example.
I believe that simply reducing salt and sugar intake by a MINOR amount each meal will have profound effects on our health. Again, it is a choice that we make. And in terms of obesity, it is not always just physical. The problem can also be psychological where many factors can trigger your hunger mechanism. I even read that lack of sleep triggers the hunger mechanism.
Thanks for this article, Ingrid. We should all be aware that no one company or product should be in control of our actions and our decisions!