UK Government Ads Link Games With "Early Death"

An anonymous reader writes "The UK government, backed by a bunch of charities that raise funds for research into cancer, heart disease and diabetes, has launched an advertising campaign that links the 'inactive' or passive gaming lifestyle with death and illness. It's part of a bigger 'Change4Life' campaign that has also linked playing games with making children obese. The new ads show a young child playing a PlayStation game, with the caption 'Risk an early DEATH, just do nothing.' To say this has annoyed the UK games industry would be a grave understatement. Trade association ELSPA has already called an urgent meeting with authorities to have the ads pulled, and trade magazine MCV has complained to the country's Advertising Standards Authority as well. As MCV Associate Editor Tim Ingham says in an impassioned opinion piece, 'Change4Life's advertising campaign makes a mockery of everything the industry has achieved in the last decade.'"

Comments

Not if you choose the correct games

[crazybit]

Nowadays kids have fun playing games like Wii-Sports. With the new generation of controllers, games that require physical activity to be controlled will start to appear.

Get them some of those games and let them invite their friends to play. They will sweat their asses trying to beat each other. Also never forget to promote real sports too (even if you have to drag them to the playground).

Re:Not if you choose the correct games

[EsbenMoseHansen]

The only problem is that the level of activity needed to improve health is actually very high. Walking for an hour or three won't help at all. Riding a bike at 25km/h won't help. Swinging a wiimote definitely won't help. To improve your health long term you need to get out and exercise hard for at least an hour a day. That means going for a run, or cycling above 30km/h.

This is not true. Even walking briskly for 20 minutes each day improves your health dramatically. As long as you get your pulse up for a few minutes daily, it helps. A test is to check whether you can comfortably hum or whistle while you exercise. If you can, walk faster/swing that mote more/bike faster.

Of course, if you want big flashy muscles, 20 minutes walking isn't going to cut it, but that is another matter.