Poll: Child Obesity, Fast Food and Ads

While a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta childhood obesity campaign that has garnered national attention also draws criticism, another fast food restaurant has announced its commitment to curbing the nationwide concern.

Ads Depicting Overweight Kids: Help or Hinderance?

The CHOA campaign, Strong4Life, is designed to bring attention to the serious health risks associated with childhood obesity. According to the CHOA website, Georgia has the second highest rate of childhood obesity in the nation with 40 percent of Georgia’s children categorized as overweight or obese.

As part of the campaign, CHOA has placed its “Stop Childhood Obesity” message on billboards, ads and commercials across the Atlanta area. The ads, which depict overweight children, have made some experts uncomfortable, Time Magazine reports.

“As a society, we are not comfortable talking about fat,” said David Katz, editor-in-chief of the journal Childhood Obesity, in the Time Magazine interview. “People look at the ad where the child is saying, Why am I fat, and they start projecting. The ads are being complicated by biases people carry with them.”

An ABC News report questioned whether the ads could end up stigmatizing the very children the campaign is meant to help.

"Blaming the victim rarely helps," said Dr. Miriam Labbok, director of the Carolina Global Breastfeeding Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to ABC News. "These children know they are fat and that they are ostracized already."

Chick-fil-A Offers Grilled Nuggets in Meals for Kids

Citing one-third of American children are considered overweight or obese and kids today consume 31 percent more calories and 56 percent more fat than 40 years ago, debuted what it calls "one of the nation’s most nutritious kid’s meals."

The Atlanta-based chain's move follows the additions of apple slices and milk to kids' meals by the likes of and , according to The Associated Press, but Chick-fil-A is taking it a step further.

While other , fries and other fried foods in kids' meals, Chick-fil-A is offering grilled chicken nuggets as the entree, marking the first time a national fast food chain has offered a grilled main dish as part of its kids' menu, according to the press release.

In addition, its adding applesauce and changing kids' meal drink options to only one-percent milk, 100-percent apple juice, lemonade and water.

"Chick-fil-A's Grilled Nuggets, paired with the Fruit Cup and one-percent milk, is one of the most nutritious children’s meal combinations offered among any major fast food chain," according to the press release. "The meal has only 210 calories and 3 grams of fat, reflecting an 86 percent cut in fat grams and a 56 percent calorie reduction compared with its previous offerings."