http://nudges.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/japan-fights-obesity-with-a-mandate-and-nudges/ From Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein's "Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness" Wed, 02 Dec 2009 05:52:08 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://nudges.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/japan-fights-obesity-with-a-mandate-and-nudges/#comment-7380 James Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:17:52 +0000 http://nudges.wordpress.com/?p=339#comment-7380 Measuring the waistline is not how you measure obesity. Tall people will have a larger waistline even if they're thin. Use your brain. "Hi, this 6'-5" tall person has a 34" waistline. Violator." It just does not work that way. Measuring the waistline is not how you measure obesity. Tall people will have a larger waistline even if they’re thin. Use your brain. “Hi, this 6′-5″ tall person has a 34″ waistline. Violator.” It just does not work that way.

]]> http://nudges.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/japan-fights-obesity-with-a-mandate-and-nudges/#comment-6574 Karlie Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:10:41 +0000 http://nudges.wordpress.com/?p=339#comment-6574 It's okay if they want to nip their growing obesity concerns in the bud, but associating shame with being overweight and calling an above-average waistline "forbidden" sounds like it will cause a lot of social problems, especially for young people. They tried this sort of thing in America by making a lot of major clothing lines too small for overweight people to wear, saying that if they saw they couldn't fit in clothes, they would stop being overweight. That sort of thing doesn't work. The waist measuring and advice is fine, but assuming that being "a metabo" will be so horrible, the person will just stop being that way like they decided to be and it's not a struggle for them seems like a blatant enablement of school bullying and low self-confidence. I commend the quick response to growing health concerns and the fact that they're doing it for the good of the people, but the concept that obesity can be banished by increasing social pressure, in changing clothing sizes or using words like "forbidden" and "illegal" in order to ostracize people so they'll become healthy, is a tired theory and it never works. It just gives people sad lives and extra struggles. It’s okay if they want to nip their growing obesity concerns in the bud, but associating shame with being overweight and calling an above-average waistline “forbidden” sounds like it will cause a lot of social problems, especially for young people. They tried this sort of thing in America by making a lot of major clothing lines too small for overweight people to wear, saying that if they saw they couldn’t fit in clothes, they would stop being overweight. That sort of thing doesn’t work. The waist measuring and advice is fine, but assuming that being “a metabo” will be so horrible, the person will just stop being that way like they decided to be and it’s not a struggle for them seems like a blatant enablement of school bullying and low self-confidence. I commend the quick response to growing health concerns and the fact that they’re doing it for the good of the people, but the concept that obesity can be banished by increasing social pressure, in changing clothing sizes or using words like “forbidden” and “illegal” in order to ostracize people so they’ll become healthy, is a tired theory and it never works. It just gives people sad lives and extra struggles.

]]> http://nudges.wordpress.com/2008/06/14/japan-fights-obesity-with-a-mandate-and-nudges/#comment-3033 amylundberg Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:28:12 +0000 http://nudges.wordpress.com/?p=339#comment-3033 Obese people are not very warmly welcomed by society. In many cases, obese people would have an inferiority complex that he/she is very much different from the others. This would even affect their mental and physical wellbeing. Obese people are not very warmly welcomed by society. In many cases, obese people would have an inferiority complex that he/she is very much different from the others. This would even affect their mental and physical wellbeing.

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