The USA Today article, Study: Small Soda Taxes Don't Dent Child Obesity, discusses the futility of recent efforts by some U.S. states to raise the tax on soft drinks in order to prevent childhood obesity. The graphic that accompanies the article shows the outline of an overweight boy. There are six numbered dots on the boy's body, each representing a separate body part. By clicking on a dot, a description pops up which lists the effects of childhood obesity on that body part.
I believe that the graphic itself is good. Although addressing an unfortunate topic, using the overweight boy and the dots is a pretty good idea to get the point across. Also, by listing information for one body part at a time, it really cuts down on clutter and makes it easier to read.
Although the graphic looks good, its relation to the article is suspect. Childhood obesity is discussed in the article, but not as much as the graphic would lead you to believe. Instead, the author spends most of the article bombarding the reader with numerous percentages and dollar amounts, concerning which states raised taxes and by how much. In light of this information I half expected this article to include a series of charts depicting the rise in taxes. Although that would have been very boring and unoriginal, at least it would have been related to what was in the article.
-Audrey
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I like your analysis of this graphic. I think you're right when it comes to cutting clutter and making the point straight-forward. It helps to be able to see what the ramifications are for unhealthy lifestyles for children. For me, though, I thought the fact that they used a clip art of a heavy boy seemed a little belittling. Maybe I'm way off base, but it sort of makes obesity like a game- press the button and see what you get! Also, the character is devoid of any facial features which I found interesting. Of course, if whoever made this graphic decided to include a face the next logical question would be "what expression should we give him?" And i suppose it's just nonsensical to have an obese child smiling...
ReplyDeleteAnother key point to this graphic is the focus on obesity in general. It might have been more pertinent in this article to have a graphic explaining what soda in particular does to a child's body. For instance, is it really true that soda rots teeth? Or how much healthier are kids who don't drink soda, compared to those who do?
I suppose now I'm delving into the article itself, but I thought it was weird that the whole basis of this story is the idea that kids are pinching pennies when it comes to snacks. As far as I recall, when I was that age I barely understood the value of a dollar. I doubt I would have noticed a four cent increase in my carbonated beverage of choice.
First of all, I do think this is an interesting topic. I also agree with your analysis of the graphic. I think the graphic is a good representation of letting people know what drinking soda and other sugary drinks can do to your health. Although, like both of you hinted at, I'm also not to sure about the heavy set child in the photograph, but I guess it does drive the main point of obesity home, even though it is a bit offensive.
ReplyDeleteI also think that the information that is given when you click on the dots is organized well and quite interesting. Since it's kind of set up like a game it makes you want to click on the dots and check it out more than I normally would want to if it was just a normal graph. The interactive part of it makes it much more interesting.
However, the one thing I felt like the graph and statistics were missing, was talking about how much soda these kids would have to drink to experiance those kinds of problems. Throughout the whole article really I felt like there wasn't a whole lot of connection with the graphic and the writing. The writing did stick more to statistics on junk food taxes, rather than how soda effects your health. I feel like the article would have been great with the graphic if it had focused a bit more on health rather than taxes. In my opinion the graphic is good but the story to go with it was a poor choice. With a better written story I think the graphic would be even more effective.