Transforming Media Representation

The ECPO Media website addresses the issue of stereotypical and stigmatising images often used in media stories related to obesity, such as pictures of individuals with obesity eating unhealthy foods. The media bank created by ECPO provides royalty-free images for use by any media outlet, aiming to replace these harmful stereotypes with more accurate representations.

The main objectives of the ECPO Media website are to raise awareness of the damage caused by stigmatising images in the media and to offer free-to-use content that promotes a more respectful and accurate portrayal of people living with obesity.

Before working with More Time To, ECPO faced significant challenges. They had no system or method for providing their images to the wider media for download. This limitation hindered their ability to influence the images used in obesity-related stories, relying solely on moral and ethical influence rather than offering practical assistance with actual photographs.

Before working with More Time To, ECPO faced significant challenges. They had no system or method for providing their images to the wider media for download. This limitation hindered their ability to influence the images used in obesity-related stories, relying solely on moral and ethical influence rather than offering practical assistance with actual photographs.

The project aimed to achieve the same goals as the site itself: to raise awareness of the harm caused by stigmatising images and to provide a simple-to-use image bank that allowed ECPO members from multiple countries to add images for media download. Crucial features included decent image filtering, the ability to download multiple images in one go as a zip file, and analytics.

More Time To created the site using a popular WordPress framework, employing bespoke coding to develop the image bank management and download functionality. The site and image bank were launched simultaneously, utilizing WordPress paired with custom code.

The results of the project have been highly positive. ECPO now has a platform where their members can upload and share non-stigmatising images of people living with obesity for media use. Currently, there are 10 countries represented with a total of 403 images, which have been downloaded 2,981 times in the past 12 months.

Solveig Sigurdardottir, ECPO President, provided positive feedback, stating, “I believe our image bank is key as it will change the way we view people who have overweight or obesity, and stigma will continue to be broken down long after the campaign is over.”

The project included unique and innovative aspects, particularly the fully bespoke image bank. The system allows for multiple images to be selected and downloaded in one go and tracks downloads for analytics.

The long-term impact of the project has been very positive. It is rewarding to see these images used in the media and to help ECPO make a positive difference in the lives of people living with obesity. More Time To continues to support ECPO with the site by uploading images, adding Alt Text, and creating additional functionality as required.