迪士尼是不是中邪了？

    迪士尼（Disney）曾经搬上银幕的一位广受景仰的儿童专家——来自童话世界的玛丽阿姨曾经唱过一首歌：“杯中加勺糖，良药不苦口。”于是，全天下的父母为了让孩子乖乖喝药，都开始往药里放糖好冲淡苦味，殊不知这样做有害孩子的健康。玛丽阿姨或许不知道，甲之蜜糖，乙之毒药，对于美国17%患有肥胖症的儿童而言尤为如此。

    实际上，销售高糖高脂的垃圾食品是迪士尼公司的商业成功秘诀。举个例子，根据其官网发布的数据，光临迪士尼乐园的游客每年要消耗7,500万罐可口可乐、1,000万个汉堡包、600万根热狗、900万磅炸薯条和30多万磅爆米花。虽然园内餐厅消耗的30多吨果蔬都是来自艾波卡特中心大地馆（The Land pavilion at Epcot Center）的健康果蔬，但也不要忘了，可口可乐是迪士尼全球11家主题公园的独家饮料供货商。实际上，早在1950年，迪士尼出品第一部电视节目的时候，可口可乐就已经是它的赞助商。要是你觉得我们的“米老鼠”真的会奉行健康的饮食方式，那就太傻太天真了。

    所以说，迪士尼近日在艾波卡特中心举办旨在“教育人们推行健康饮食”的“习惯英雄”（Habit Heroes）展览就是一出骇人听闻的闹剧，如若不然，迪士尼的自我讽刺功力真可谓出神入化。此次展览是由佛罗里达蓝十字会（Florida Blue）和安盛蓝十字蓝盾公司（Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield）赞助的专项计划，主要针对儿童肥胖问题。朋友给我看了篇文章，上面说展览开场不到3周就“停展整顿”了。至于为什么，那是因为儿童肥胖专家认为这场展览会加深人们对超重者的成见，将胖孩子妖魔化，使他们在学校更容易受到欺凌。此外，它主要利用人们了的羞耻心，作为鞭策胖子改善自身健康状况的手段。

    讨伐展览的重量级（此处没有讽刺之意）专家包括渥太华大学（University of Ottawa）家庭医学助理教授、加拿大肥胖协会（the Canadian Obesity Network）家庭医学主席弗里德霍夫医生。“真是太令人震惊了，简直不可思议，”文章引用弗里德霍夫的话说。“胖子在学校受到的欺负已经够多了，实在没法想象他们出了学校还要受人欺凌，连度假的时候都要受到这等羞辱。可以想象，来看这场展览的胖子和超重者肯定心里非常难受。”

    “习惯英雄”这场展览到底能有多糟糕？怎么说呢，促进接受肥胖者委员会（The National Association of Fat Acceptance）（呃，这个委员会应该没什么人知道吧）近日发了篇新闻稿，题为《来吧！一起去损胖孩子！》（Hi Ho! Hi Ho! A-Stigmatizing Fat Kids We Go!，模仿迪士尼动画《白雪公主》中的插曲），文中介绍了展览的部分细节及展台上的卡通角色：

    • “吃货：嘴巴停不住，吃东西像打仗”

    • “零食癖：高脂、加工食品狂人”

    • “死宅：坐下来就不挪窝”

    • “臭虫：不讲卫生”

    Mary Poppins, Disney's most revered children's expert, once sang, "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down," encouraging parents everywhere to mask bad taste in sugary sweetness in the best interests of their children's health. Mary Poppins could not yet have known that sugar would become viewed as a generally toxic substance, particularly for the 17% of U.S. children who are now considered clinically obese.

    In fact, sugar and other unhealthful, fat-laden empty calorie foods have become key to the successful business model of the Walt Disney Corp. For instance, according to Disney's own website, more than 75 million Coca-Colas are consumed each year at Walt Disney World Resort, washing down 10 million hamburgers, 6 million hot dogs, 9 million pounds of French fries and more than 300,000 pounds of popcorn. While it is true that more than 30 tons of fruits and vegetables grown at The Land pavilion at Epcot Center are served in Walt Disney World restaurants, it also is true that Coca-Cola is the sole global beverage provider for all of the company's 11 theme parks worldwide, and actually was Disney's very first television show sponsor back in 1950. If you think Micky is serious about healthy eating, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

    And thus it is either with unbelievable chutzpah or a flair for dramatic irony that Disney recently opened an exhibit in Epcot Center called Habit Heroes that is intended "to teach families how to be healthier." The exhibit, which was specifically oriented towards fighting childhood obesity, was a project sponsored by Florida Blue and Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. My friend sent me an article about this exhibit, which was shuttered for "retooling" within three weeks of its opening. Why, you ask? Because the exhibit was believed by child obesity experts to flaunt negative stereotypes about being overweight, demonize fat kids and promote bullying and to use shame as the primary motivational tool to teach overweight kids that they need to change their ways to improve their health.

    Among the experts who weighed in (no pun intended) on this exhibit was Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa and family medicine chair of the Canadian Obesity Network. "It's so dumbfounding it's unreal," Dr. Freedhoff was quoted as saying. "I just can't believe somebody out there thought it was a good idea to pick up where the school bullies left off and shame kids on their vacation. There's no doubt in my mind that overweight and obese kids going through this exhibit are leaving feeling horrible about themselves."

    How bad could Habit Heroes have been? Well, the The National Association of Fat Acceptance (okay, who knew?) issued a press release with the title of Hi Ho! Hi Ho! A-Stigmatizing Fat Kids We Go! in which they detail some of the exhibits and associated characters, which include:

    • "The Glutton, Overeating and eating too fast"

    • "Snacker, Too much fatty, processed food"

    • "Lead Bottom, Not enough exercise"

    • "Stinkbomb, Bad hygiene"