Eat more fruit before the fruit eats you

While generally I applaud Tesco's decision to provide free fruit in-store for kids, I am unnerved by this giant fruit golem they have created to promote it:

He's obviously meant to be a big, friendly pile of fruit, brought to life by a desire to help kids snack healthier. I wonder what kids think about it. I find it uncanny enough as an adult.

Next to the giant cardboard golem you can see another part of the campaign, cute little plushies of fruit and veg. (I almost bought a mushroom.) They are both adorable and affordable, and seem a bit out of kilter with the animated fruit harvest next to them.

Like many examples I find of odd products and strange marketing, I would love to have been in the concept meeting and heard the discussions about this one. 

Word of the week: obesogenic

I've been helping promote Champions for Health in work, recognising that my being unhealthy and working in the healthcare sector is incongruous.

Today we had an update day for people involved in the campaign (I went along to interview them). I heard a brilliant word - apparently we live in an "obesogenic culture", i.e. an environment that makes us put on weight by letting us eat more calories than we need.

Now there are two responses to that. You can either accept it and say 'Well, I'm overweight, but what do you expect? I live in an obesogenic culture." Or you can say "I'm not going to let living in an obesogenic culture define me."

Being involved in Champions for Health has been fun. Last year I even ended up on the ITV news.

Judgmental supermarket signage

We know what's good for you, fatty!