Once famously described as a “Cinderella branch of public health practice”, the role of advocacy took centre stage at the Public Health Association of Australia’s annual conference in Perth last week.
And one of many take-home tips on the subject was that lists seem to be powerful communication tools.
For example, Professor Simon Chapman (who drew the Cinderella comparison ten years ago), offered this list – 10 pieces of advice to early career researchers and advocates.
Dr David H Jernigan, Director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth at the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, offered this illuminating list.
The list is drawn from the book, Lethal but Legal: Corporations, Consumption and Protecting Public Health by Nick Freudenberg, director of Hunter College’s Food Policy Center.
The prominent US public health nutritionist Professor Marion Nestle has described this book as:
“…a superb, magnificently written, courageous, and thoroughly compelling exposé of how corporations selling cigarettes, guns, cars, drugs, booze, and food and beverages enrich themselves at the expense of public health.
Even more important, Freudenberg tells us how we can organize to counter corporate power and achieve a healthier and more sustainable environment.
This book should be required reading for anyone who cares about promoting health, protecting democratic institutions, and achieving a more equitable and just society.”
In presenting the list, Jernigan stated that at least seven of the 10 leading causes of disability and death are related to three industries: tobacco; alcohol; and ultra-processed food and drink.
It is worth taking the time to check his slides and presentation here – not least for the disturbing examples of how alcohol industry marketing targets women and youth.
Here is his advice on advocacy.
And on related topics, here is another list – from PHAA CEO Michael Moore.
Meanwhile, this post ends by borrowing another of Jernigan’s PHAA slides (just to share the pleasure of these quotes):
