Oh if we had known a little tongue-in-cheek health story about Santa failing to be a healthy role model for children would generate such heated debate!
Of the dozens of potentially controversial news stories we published this week, including MPs backing assisted suicide, the DoH’s ‘nanny state’ new guidance on alcohol for children, and NHS managers considering allowing patients to use personal health budgets to pay for holidays, it’s the BMJ Christmas parody piece on Santa claiming the character promotes obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle that alienated the most readers on our forums…
Click here to see the comments
We, at Healthcare Republic, always like generating debate on our forums and engage our healthcare professional readers so they can share their views, but I have to admit little did we know that this ‘story’ would end up being the most commented of the past couple of weeks.
Amongst the seven comments is a mix of vindictive remarks against Dr Grills, the author of the research published in the Christmas issue of the BMJ, accusing him of ruining the spirit of Christmas as well as Santa-based jokes of course.
We thought the research paper parody was such a great read, with things like “Santa is a late adopter of evidence based behaviour change and continues to sport a rotund sedentary image”, and my absolute favourite: “To create a supportive environment for Santa’s dieting we should cease the tradition of leaving Santa cookies, mince pies, and milk, brandy, or sherry. This is bad not only for Santa’s waistline but for parental obesity.”
The ‘research’ also suggests Santa is a propagator of infectious disease and in particular swine flu, he’s accused of promoting speeding, disregard for road rules, and extreme sports such as roof surfing and chimney jumping. Should I continue?
Just take it the way we took it: with pinch of salt… or with a mince pie and mulled wine.
