The pedagogy of disgust: the ethical, moral and political implications of using disgust in public health campaigns

Abstract

The developers of public health campaigns have often attempted to elicit disgust to persuade members of their target audiences to change their behaviour in the interests of their health. In this critical essay, I seek to problematise this taken-for-granted and unquestioned tactic. I assert that the pedagogy of disgust in public health campaigns has significant ethical, moral and political implications. In outlining my argument, the literature on the social, cultural and political elements of disgust is drawn upon. I also draw more specifically on scholarship demonstrating the ways in which disgust has operated in relation to health and medical issues to reinforce stigmatisation and discrimination against individuals and groups who are positioned as disgusting. It is concluded that advocates of using such tactics should be aware of the challenge they pose to human dignity and their perpetuation of the Self and Other binary opposition that reinforces negative attitudes towards already disadvantaged and marginalised individuals and social groups.

Televised obesity-prevention advertising across US media markets: exposure and content, 2010–2011

“…For example, obesity-prevention campaigns may be more effective when they provide concrete behavioural recommendations and when they advocate both dietary change and physical activity (24) . The use of certain negative emotional messages and graphic images in public health campaigns remains controversial (25) , but has been shown to improve message salience and to increase message effectiveness in some contexts (26,27) . Both sufficient exposure and persuasive messaging are crucial, especially given the relative resources and expertise of the food industry in marketing unhealthy products such as those high in saturated fat, sugar and sodium, and with television serving as the dominant platform for such advertising (28)(29)(30)(31) .…”

Becoming fit to be a mother: class, learning, and redemption inSupersize vs Superskinny

“…Moreover, in employing a medical doctor as a shaming authority, the programme legitimises the inculcation of shame as a tool for obesity intervention, both for the participants and for the viewer, framing shame as a form of care (see Abbots, Lavis, & Attala, 2015), rather than bullying. once again, this aligns with broader public health discourses that position the production of shame as a legitimate 'educative tool' to alter eating habits (Lupton, 2015).…”

Public health surveillance and the media: a dyad of panoptic and synoptic social control

“…There is also potential for public health and health promotion initiatives to do harm by being negatively focussed and creating stigma and disempowerment. For example, public health media campaigns which invoke disgust may marginalise already disadvantaged social groups and individuals (Lupton, 2014). Similarly obesity prevention campaigns may have paradoxical and unintended consequences, such as making overweight people feel devalued Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine and rejected, leading them to engage in behaviours that may exacerbate obesity (Major, Hunger, Bunyan, & Miller, 2014).…”

“…They help us create meaning about social, political and health issues (Gamson, Croteau, Hoynes, & Sasson, 1992). Public health campaigns use images to evoke emotions such as regret, fear and disgust in order to encourage behaviour change (Lupton, 2014). The selection of different images in stories or campaigns can be used to create positive or negative responses.…”