Beijing Finds Cure For Obesity
The dieticians, nutritionists, shrinks and hand-wringers in administration have got it all wrong. I've just stumbled on the simple yet obvious solution to weight loss. Turn it into a sport.
My colleagues at Ogilvy in Beijing have set the tone. There are roughly 800 Ogilvy-ers in Beijing, and those who fancied it signed up into teams of 5, representing their discipline. Over a 3 week period, the team that lost the most amount of weight collectively, picked up the glory and the RMB. Ogilvy's IT and finance team romped to victory, leaving Ogilvy PR to pick up silver. Individual glory was up for grabs too. The Light Hero Gold Award was picked up by Joanne Chyou (pictured), who shed an impressive 7.8kg.
Genius. Why do we have put with lectures and whinging from Patricia Hewitt and the like, telling us 'we must eat this, and we can't eat that?' The whine just makes you want to walk away and see if there are any more biscuits in the cupboard.
Bring in a competitive element, and then you'll start seeing some movement. Now you're talking. I want to see this turned into a demonstration sport for Beijing 2008. If Sebastian Coe wants a legacy for London 2012 - get those fat kids in the UK off their Xboxes and into training for Olympic glory. I'd be up for it if eating lettuce meant I'd get gold medal.
Respect to Joanna Chyou. Light Hero 2007.
Alas, China has another contribution to global weight loss. All those nasty quality control issues in manufacturing including food. Will China respond as a country and protect its new-found reputation for creating quality products?
Posted by: John Bell | July 02, 2007 at 02:37 PM