Recently, I wrote an open letter to LeBron James asking him to
reconsider his endorsements with Coca-Cola and McDonald’s and an
article decrying Beyoncé’s recent $50 million contract with
Pepsi. Reaction to the articles was mixed. Many supported them,
recognizing the implicit influence that stars like LeBron and
Beyoncé have on the consumption habits of impressionable
children. Others were less supportive. They argued that rather
than food companies and trend makers like LeBron and Beyoncé,
children today are obese because their parents aren’t doing a
good job controlling their children’s diets and coaching them to
more active lifestyles. But the numbers tell a different story.
Childhood obesity has tripled since 1980. Today, about 17% of
American kids are obese and 25% are overweight. Such a drastic
increase suggests that something has changed over the past 30
years. Getting to the bottom of what’s causing the childhood
obesity epidemic means figuring out what is changing. And it’s
probably not parents. In f