Podium Presentation at the 10th Annual Convention of the
Media Ecology Association, St. Louis, MO, USA, June 18–21 2009

But They Say More is Better:
How the Media Environment Makes it Difficult to
Prevent Cancer and Promote Health in a U-Shaped World

David J. Waters, PhD, DVM; Mallory A. Waters, BS; Emily C. Chiang, MS
Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation and The Purdue University Center on Aging and the Life Course, West Lafayette, IN, USA

Abstract

In his most recent book, Thomas Friedman shared his notion of a world that is hot, flat, and crowded. As scientists who are focused on preventing cancer and promoting health, we see the world slightly differently: hot, crowded, and U-shaped. When it comes to communicating the results of health research, there is a lot of hot air out there — the public is bombarded with all sorts of information on what are the “good things” that promote health. The world is crowded too — crowded with people who differ biologically in significant ways. This heterogeneous world needs personalized interventions to promote the health of individuals. When it comes to diet, physical activity, or taking dietary supplements, one size does not fit all. Surely, the public would be receptive to the idea of personalized cancer prevention. After all, if an iPod enables you to personalize your music, shouldn’t personalized cancer prevention be just around the corner? Unfortunately, the public is just not receiving the individualized advice they need. Even more troublesome, however, the world is U-shaped. Recently, more and more scientists are discovering that when it comes to “good things” that promote health, more of a good thing is not necessarily better. In fact, more of a good thing can be flat out dangerous. Yet the media environment has so effectively embedded the metaphor “more is better,” the public pays little or no attention to the issue of “how much.” Instead, John Q. Citizen clings to an over-simplistic health strategy: “Show me the good things and I’ll grab as much of them as I can.” In this presentation, we will compare the scientific results and media coverage from a recent large-scale cancer prevention trial. Our analysis will deftly demonstrate how the media environment adversely affects the ability of people to understand cancer prevention issues and promote their health. Moreover, we contend that a hot, crowded, and U-shaped world provides a distinctive challenge for media ecologists looking to impact public health in the 21st century.