£9.6bn a year
The Daily Telegraph notes that the government has spent £9.6bn on a failed campaign to make people reduce weight. The usual suspects are jumping up and down with glee mixed with outrage.Maybe we should step back a little and ask ourselves 'is it true' or 'if it is true what does it mean'? The Telegraph article is short on how it gets to the £9.6bn, and a general news search show no-one else has any figures.
Examining a bit more closely British Spin can't come up with even £1bn. To his study I would like to add that the entire government advertising budget last year was around £250 million (i.e. less than 3% of the figure) and the Department of Health's was around £40m.
SO how did the Telegraph get to this figure? I can see three ways. One, I've got it wrong and actually they spent £9.6bn directly on fighting flab -- i.e nearly half the annual defence budget. Two, she's taken long-standing policies, such as sports in schools, and added them all up. Three, she's mistaken an advertising campaign costing £9.6mn for one costing £9.6bn.
posted by Matthew @ 10/14/2003 05:07:00 PM
Comments: 0
