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Introduction
Child obesity has tremendously increased by doubling in percentage rate in the last 30
years. It has gotten so bad that about one third of children in the United States are classified as
obese. Parents all around our country seem to care less about the health of their children. It is a
big issue how we choose to ignore obesity since it is classified as a chronic disease and being
obese at such a young age causes even more health problems when they grow up. There have
been studies that show that neglect can be a big factor in children being obese as they become
adolescents (Lissau, 1994, 324). Overall most people in the United States do not consider obesity
to be such a big issue. There is a small majority that tries to speak up about obesity and the
dangers behind being obese. A poster created by Megan Cederbaum for example questions
obesity and offers a few solutions on how to prevent it all while being depicted in a hamburger to
show a major cause of obesity which in unhealthy, greasy, junk food. These genres will oppose
each other on how some people want to slow down obesity rate while others are too ignorant to
do something about obesity
Audience and Purpose
In Lissaus article, Parental neglect during childhood and increased risk of obesity in
young adulthood, is supposed to target an audience of parents who are unwilling to give a little
extra of their time to ensure the complete best for their kids. The other genre which is a poster
created by, Megan Cederbaum, Childhood Obesity Poster, is sending a clear message to society
in general. It gives us a general understanding of how serious obesity is, but that there are simple
solutions one can do to make sure they are in control of their weight. It depicts these facts and
solutions in a form to where the poster looks like a hamburger to paint the big picture on why

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obesity is such a huge threat in the United States. The first genre may not be so important to
people without kids. Therefore, it is a little harder to get the message across about obesity. The
second genre targets everyone. The way its presented is simple, giving a clear message to any
person that being healthy isnt such a rigorous task and can lead to you being a happier person.
Continually, Inge Lissaus, articles gives us facts on studies performed on hundreds of
children. How they interact with their family has an impact on them becoming obese. They
studied kids that were being neglected by their parents and found that they have the highest
chance of becoming obese. This article is very informative and many can find it reliable because
of actual facts found within it. Megan Cederbaum poster is a less formal and doesnt use hard
facts done in studies, but it does simply state the obvious in a well-designed and thought out
poster.
The article takes more time to go through it and understand unlike the poster which only
takes a few seconds. The article has much more information to review and you have to
thoroughly examine the charts to see the end results. It will take longer to process especially if it
affects you in any way and one will try to use this information to make alterations to their life
style. It does have a more serious tone by giving out tones of facts and being formal throughout
the whole reading .The article also has very professional vocabulary since they want to
thoroughly explain their facts and the more you read it, the more worried you get about the issue.
In contrast, the poster is a lot easier to understand so people breakdown the meaning
faster. The poster is less serious and tries to be more inviting by the colorful scheme it has, as
each sentence or word is color coded to look similar to a condiment of a burger. It gives you
motivation because of the simple solution it offers. The posters vocabulary is more direct and

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less formal but does give some information and makes you acknowledge the situation and make
you realize that one can get rid of obesity but it will take time and effort. Either way both genres
do try and state the same thing but the poster is simpler and offers quick solutions.
Ethos
The article has hard cold facts of years of studies performed on huge amount of children
and it really shines a light on obesity that has been unnoticed for a very long time. The
information is extremely reliable and credible since everything it talks about has results to look
back on. It could make parents reconsider the way they start raising their kid and if buying
unhealthy foods really is a smart choice to make. The second genre really states the obvious but
society chooses to be ignorant and disregard the situation. It shows its credibility because it
makes us realize that obesity is starting to become part of our culture and how casual it is for a
person to be larger in size and not do anything to change even if they know how much their
health is at risk.
Pathos
The first genre doesnt have any empathy or sadness to where people should start feeling horrible
about what can happen to their children. It is has too much information and doesnt want to cause
distress to people. Its main objective is to show parents what seems to happen to a majority of
children that become or feel neglected by their parents. Its good it doesnt have emotional stance
since we shouldnt feel pity about obesity and instead should be encourage preventing and
slowing it down. The poster also does have an emotional stance even if its too direct. If your
healthy or obese you can reflect on the poster and consider if you should start improving on your
health choices.

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Logos
The first genre takes on the logical appeal since it needs results and studies to make its
statement reliable. No one would take it serious if it was just an assumption about neglect. The
facts provided show the increasing chances of obesity due to so many years of study. the public
can be reassured with facts from this article. The second genre tries to reason with you by stating
the number of obese people and how you could be one of those people in the massive number of
obese people and uses simple logic on what to do like exercising and eating healthy. Both genres
have reasonable points on why you should be more worried about obesity.
Structure and Delivery
Both genres ultimately did their goal which was to raise awareness of obesity, but both
presented it differently. The article just kept giving you facts and numbers about what their
studies found and really showed how bad obesity is, but leaves it at that and only makes the
audience worried. It isnt necessarily a bad thing since all it wants to do is give you information
you could probably use if you read every detail on the article. The second genre organization was
really clever and thought out by the author. There wasnt much writing but the color scheme and
small details like bolding the word obesity can catch anyone eyes. She also gave the solutions
brighter color so people can somehow ease into what the picture depicts, which really is affects
fast food restaurant in a negative way by saying that they are the problem behind obesity and
society should really stop giving them so much power by eating their products.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both genres got their message out about obesity and its dangers and gave
the audience plenty of information. The second genre did a much better job since it doesnt

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frighten the audience so much as it does give you the option to fight back against obesity. It
presented itself well by having pathos, ethos and logos and makes a person realize how important
their health means.

References
Cederbaum, M. (2012). Childhood obesity poster. Retrieved from
https://megancederbaum.wordpress.com/2012/11/21/childhood-obesity-poster/.
Childhood Obesity Facts. (2015). Retrieved from
http://www.cdc.gov/healthyschools/obesity/facts.htm.
Lissau, I. (1994). Parental neglect during childhood and increased risk of obesity in young
adulthood. The Lancet. 343(8893), 324-327. Retrieved from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0140673694911630

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