In 2008, the Minnesota Legislature passed a ground-breaking health reform law that included a provision to address the root causes of poor heath, with the aim of reducing rising health care costs. In this news analysis, we assess how the program was framed in the media and offer recommendations to help public health advocates make the case for prevention.
Tobacco control’s unparalleled success comes partly from advocates broadening the focus of responsibility beyond the smoker to include industry and government. How can public health advocates apply lessons from tobacco control to other efforts like the fight against harmful food and beverage industry products and marketing practices? A study we conducted with our colleagues from the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law offers insights.
Automobiles are a major cause of injury and death, yet because they have long been a symbol of freedom and privacy in the United States, efforts to regulate them often meet resistance. Even basic protections like seat belts and airbags that we now take for granted were once contested. In this video as part of BMSG’s 20th anniversary series, Ben Kelley, director of injury control policy at the Trauma Foundation, discusses the evolution of auto industry regulation and changes in the public’s perception of and media reporting on the issue since the early 20th century.
Health in All Policies is a collaborative approach to improving the health of all people by making sure health considerations are a part of all policy decisions. In Section 7 of this toolkit from the Public Health Institute, BMSG’s Lori Dorfman and Ingrid Daffner Krasnow discuss how we can more effectively make the case for a Health in All Policies framework. Download toolkit >
Speaking at a California State Senate informational hearing, BMSG media researcher Andrew Cheyne talks about the government’s role in protecting public health. He discusses how public perceptions of the government’s responsibility to support health have changed over time and explains how media coverage can influence — and often limit — our understanding of health issues.
Marketing for soda and junk food is everywhere kids are: at school, in the supermarket, in our communities and online. Try as they might, parents simply can’t compete with the $1.8 billion food companies spend each year to entice and engage children. In this commentary (part of a larger report on obesity), BMSG’s Lori Dorfman and CSPI‘s Margo Wootan discuss the issue and what can be done. To view the commentary, see Page 73 of the full report.
In 2012, two California cities asked voters to consider taxing soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages. The measures failed, but advocates can learn a lot from how the news media covered the issue. In this preliminary report, we discuss what arguments appeared in the news, how reporters portrayed the need for the policies, how government and the soda industry were characterized, and what this means going forward. A final report will be released later this year.
In this presentation, as part of the Institute of Medicine workshop Creating Equal Opportunities for a Healthy Weight, BMSG’s Lori Dorfman discusses how our message environment undermines health equity by targeting youth (especially youth of color) with marketing for unhealthy foods. Dorfman says this type of targeting often happens without parents’ knowledge and makes recommendations for change, including conducting more research and pushing for policies that strengthen nutrition standards and hold industry accountable.
In spite of a rapid growth in digital marketing, research on how it affects children’s health has failed to keep pace with changing industry practices. This chapter, part of Advances in Communication Research to Reduce Childhood Obesity, presents a conceptual framework for understanding how digital marketing differs from traditional forms of marketing and identifies challenges for researchers.
In the heat of a campaign, it can be easy to forget that advocacy is about more than winning a particular policy change. It’s about values and relationships — and that requires dialogue. In this discussion, Francisco (Pancho) Argüelles, executive director of the Living Hope Wheelchair Association, encourages us to step outside our comfort zones and learn how to open the space for conversation so that we can become better allies to communities struggling for justice.
