Body image key to healthy habits BBC

Motivation

Both groups were then shown advertising posters on having a healthy breakfast - one urging children to slim down, the other providing educational information about the benefits of eating well.

Three-quarters of the children who had been asked to draw pictures of themselves said they felt encouraged to eat more healthily and do more exercise after seeing the adverts.

Getting young people to think about themselves frequently makes them much more receptive to campaigns giving information about how to eat more healthily

Ekant Veer

But of those who had not been asked to draw a picture, only 58% said the adverts had an effect.

Mr Veers, a marketing lecturer at the university, said the key message of the findings was that campaigns which portray a negative image of overweight people are not actually encouraging them to slim down.