Abstract
In response to the heightened risk that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) poses to the health and lives of people with obesity, in 2020 the U.K. government launched a new package of policies intended to stimulate weight loss among the country’s population. In this article, I present a critical discourse analysis of the policy paper which announced these new measures. I identify the discourses that are used to represent things, people, and processes in this policy text. These discourses are interpreted in terms of broadly neoliberal ideologies of public health management. Taken together, the discourses identified contribute to a broadly neoliberal ideology of public health management. It is argued that the policy paper represents an instance of “lifestyle drift,” as it initially appears to engage with social and economic determinants of health but ultimately neglects these in favor of focusing on individual lifestyle factors, particularly in the shape of individuals’ “choices.”
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
Almost two thirds of adults in the United Kingdom have either overweight or obesity, with prevalence being relatively higher among people aged 55 to 74 years, people living in deprived areas, and people belonging to some minority ethnicity groups (Public Health England, 2020b)
I have argued that the representations of the things, people, and processes linked to this policy issue contribute to three broad discourses which operate in tandem to problematize obesity in the United Kingdom, position the public as responsibilized citizen-consumers, and present the government, alongside food and drink industry stakeholders, as a benevolent social actor whose actions are intended to “help” individuals to make “healthier choices.”
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). COVID-19 can be life threatening to some demographic and clinical groups, with the group most at risk of serious illness and death from it being people aged 70 years or above. Another group that is at pronounced risk of serious complications, including death, from COVID-19 is people with obesity. Almost two thirds of adults in the United Kingdom have either overweight or obesity, with prevalence being relatively higher among people aged 55 to 74 years, people living in deprived areas, and people belonging to some minority ethnicity groups (Public Health England, 2020b). A recent review by Public Health England (2020a) of evidence on the disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19 suggests that the impact of the virus has “replicated existing health inequalities and, in some cases, has increased them” (p. 4)
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