Faking Diabetes Amputation to Scare Healthy People

This month, the Bloomberg mayoralty took a stumble on a massive morality blunder with the release of an absolutely incredible public health campaign aimed at the heart of healthy people; and it was perpetuated in a fake amputation of a man’s leg in order to make some sort of warped point in print advertising about the perils if Type 2 Diabetes:

Here’s the stock image of the “Diabetes Amputee” model before the NYC Health Department fired up Photoshop:

Here’s the New York Times take on this asinine idea:

A blunt new poster from the Bloomberg administration shows an overweight man on a stool, his right leg missing below the knee. A pair of crutches leans against a wall beside him. The advertisement, being placed throughout the subway system, warns that ever-growing portions of fast food and sodas could cause diabetes, which could lead to amputations.

But it turns out that the person shown in the advertisement did not need crutches because his legs were intact. The health department confirmed on Tuesday that its advertising agency had removed the lower half of the man’s leg from the picture to make its point: the headline over the image reads “Portions have grown. So has Type 2 diabetes, which can lead to amputations.”

The stupidity of this false campaign for better health is shocking and revolting.  Do we really have to fake Diabetes amputees because NYC can’t find a stock photo of a truly disabled person?  Are we trying to save time here or save lives?  One wonders if Paula Deen is somehow involved in this crazy campaign.

We minimize an important health campaign and we insult disabled people — all in one swoop of a Photoshop clone tool.  It’s all so unimaginative and degenerate and cruel, one can easily believe the NYC Health Department is actually mocking Diabetics instead of trying to save healthy people from the deadly consequences of that disease.

Let’s hope the Bloomberg administration comes to its senses and removes this ugly campaign from view and that they then apologize for their lousy taste and complete tastelessness in broaching the topic of an important public health epidemic.