Growing Obesity Rates

Finding an Innovative Response Requires a Structural Realignment of Public Policy

In many developed nations an increasing proportion of the population is becoming obese. This impacts substantially on those nations’ health care systems. As these trends continue and public health concerns grow into a public health crisis, negative environmental influences will need to be removed if public health improvement is the objective.

Professor Walter Wymer will discuss the complexity of this problem and emphasize that innovative public policy solutions will be required if this unhealthy trend is to be substantially reduced in the population. An innovative solution mix, however, will require us to rethink some prior assumptions we used to view as self-evident. The role of the individual and the food industry marketing environment will be discussed. The appropriate roles of government and business in society will also be discussed.

Walter Wymer is a Professor of Marketing at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. Over the past 15 years, he has published numerous articles, eight books, and given many presentations. His research areas focus on various non-profit marketing topics as well as marketing and society issues. He is editor of the Journal of Non-profit & Public Sector Marketing, former North American editor of the International Journal of Non-profit & Voluntary Sector Marketing, former president of the Atlantic Marketing Association, and former director of the Centre for Socially Responsible Marketing.

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