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Twitter: @Strong_4_life

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/S4LGA

Dear strong4life,

I understand the reason for your campaign is to prevent obesity from occurring in young children, but by posting images like the one on the right is obscene! Just by the few words, “It’s hard to be a little girl if you’re not”, makes children who are overweight even more self-conscious about themselves, don’t want to show their faces at school because they’re afraid of getting picked on and bullied, and makes them have a higher chance of becoming depressed and eventually having some kind of eating disorder. Regardless of how overweight a child may be, they still can have a childhood and don’t need advertisements like this showing them that they can’t just because they’re overweight. I was once that young, overweight girl myself and I can tell you from my own experience, my childhood was ruined whenever I saw images like this one or advertisements on TV because I never felt like I was good enough and would never be excepted unless I lost weight. I would constantly wonder what people were thinking about me, I’d always have my hands rapped around my stomach, I was socially awkward, and ended up doing whatever I could to try and lose weight. I remember one summer all I wore were sweatshirts because I thought that that would be a good way to lose weight. Even in high school my sophomore year I could hear people talking about me, and stuff like that hurt. It’s not fair to this girl by displaying an image of her thinking she, or any other overweight girl for that matter, won’t be able to cherish the same childhood as those who aren’t overweight. I know your website means well and is trying to send a message that obesity rates in children are increasing,  but don’t do it in such a hurtful way. In my opinion, try to approach it in a supportive and positive way so overweight children can have a normal childhood and become more motivated to lose weight for themselves instead of feeling pressured.

Sincerely,

Danielle