In Atlanta, there’s some fierce criticism over a blunt new ad campaign targeting childhood obesity. From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Using tools such as television commercials and billboards late this year, the campaign has offered stark black-and-white images of overweight children sharing bold and often uncomfortable messages. In one, a child named Bobby sadly asks his obese mother, “Mom, why am I fat?” His mother simply sighs heavily and the commercial fades out.

Some public health experts, however, say the approach could be counterproductive when it comes to childhood obesity. The commercials and billboards do not give families the tools they need to attack the problem, some critics say. Others say the images will simply further stigmatize obesity and make it even less likely for parents and children to acknowledge that their weight is unhealthy and should be addressed.

Children’s Healthcare decided on the approach after finding in research that 50 percent of people surveyed did not recognize childhood obesity as a problem and 75 percent of parents with overweight or obese kids did not see their children as having a weight issue. Across Georgia, which ranks second nationally for childhood obesity, about 1 million children are overweight or obese, according to data compiled by the campaign

Think about that: half the people surveyed don’t think childhood obesity is a problem, and three out of four parents with fat kids don’t think their kids have weight problems. That’s stunning. Children’s Healthcare tells the AJC that they decided they had to do something radical because they’re seeing children with heart problems, diabetes, and — get this — even needing knee replacements because they are so obese.

You can’t blame kids for this. You blame the adults — parents and caretakers — who are not doing their jobs. But it’s the kids who have to live with the stigma, and not just the stigma, but the chronic health problems that come with obesity. As someone who was an obese child, the ads make me uncomfortable. Fat kids don’t need to have the fact of their fatness pointed out to them; they know every single minute of every single day that they’re fat. But childhood obesity is a huge crisis, and we adults are not doing right by our children. What’s it going to take to wake us up? More from the story:

Gayla Prestage Grubbs, whose 15-year-old son is working hard to address a weight problem, said she supports the tone of the advertisements.

“They are in your face,” she said. “But I know, for me, I was not offended by it. I was more like — oh, my gosh, that’s right.”

Children getting knee replacements. That’s sick. Childhood obesity rates have tripled over the last 30 years, and the rate of chronic childhood illnesses is almost four times the rate it was a generation ago. This is not just one of those things, nor is it a crisis that can be addressed by everyone pretending that it’s merely an aesthetic issue. I don’t want my kids to suffer through what I did as a fat kid, nor do I want them to have to be like me now, constantly battling my weight. As we’ve been talking about on this site, not everybody has full control over their weight, especially after reaching a certain age in life. But children? Really?