Anti-obesity policy in the media: Analysis from the principle of responsibility

Abstract

Purpose/Context. To analyze from the public information available in digital media from the period 2012-2018 in Mexico, the messages in discourses of the government, the industry and the informed society that affected the functioning of the health promotion policy against obesity and the bioethical implications that could be manifested, in light of the principle of responsibility.

Methodology/Approach. Qualitative, bioethical and hermeneutic analysis where publications in digital media about obesity in the period 2012-2018 and linking the National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Overweight, Obesity and Diabetes (ENPCSOD) in Mexico were included, coming from the government discourse, industries such as food, soft drinks and fashion, as well as from the informed society comprising academia and civil organizations.

Results/Findings. The 2012-2018 health policy discourse showed disinterest in the development of promotion as an effective tool for public health; incongruence between actions and objectives, a discourse of fear and warning, which is finally glimpsed as non-compliance with ethical responsibility.

Discussion/Conclusions/Contributions. Obesity is a mediatized health problem, whose transformation of values and perception of realities makes the bioethical discussion on the intervention of the media as moral agents urgent. Its scope, still unknown, deserves a transdisciplinary approach that allows balancing, from public policies, rights, obligations and responsibilities.