This Childhood Obesity Ad Is So Good, the French Thought It Was Real

We speak to the student behind it

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In the U.S., ads about weight usually come in the form of relatively thin women eating light yogurt. Awareness of obesity, especially in children, hasn't really taken off.

But in France, this ad has taken off—and it wasn't even approved to run.

The ad was made by David Lesage, a student in Belgium, but gained some press after the L'Express newspaper mistook it for an ad released by the French Ministry of Health and ran it in the paper.

The ad shows melting ice cream that also looks like an obese abdomen, with the caption, "L'obésité commence dès le plus jeune âge."

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