We Are All Ballooning: Multimedia Critical Discourse Analysis of Measure Up and Swap It, Don’t Stop It Social Marketing Campaigns

Abstract

Social marketing campaigns are the most visible strategy in the ‘war on obesity’. Recent critiques highlight the potentially damaging aspects of such campaigns, primarily focusing on the language used. Critical discourse analysis (CDA) focuses on critiquing text for evidence of power and ideology. CDA is used to reveal the ideas, absences and assumptions, and therefore the power interests buried within texts, in order to bring about social change.