The more people hear a frame, the more powerful it becomes.
Certain words and ideas work better than others when talking about childhood obesity. We need to keep using these words and ideas to tell a new story about improving children’s health – and avoid the ones that cause harm.
| Instead of |
Try |
Physical activity
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Explore, run and play, get moving
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Food environment
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Options, barriers – and explain these using the rivers metaphor
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Choices, lifestyles
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Options, opportunities
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Inequality/disparities in low income areas
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The fair places value to bring these to life – e.g ‘It shouldn’t be harder for people in [area] to be healthy’
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‘We need to take a public health approach to this issue’
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‘This issue affects all of us – we all need opportunities to be healthy. By [doing specific action] we can…’
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Preventative approach, moderation
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Work upstream, balance the flow – and extend the rivers metaphor to give specific details
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Encourage, inspire
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Support, help, enable
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Not enough physical activity/exercise
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Not enough opportunities to exercise and be healthy
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