Why preach to kids in school and on TV about how bad smoking/drinking is but never about obesity?

I graduated high school in 02 and went through tons and tons of really sensational videos and dramas in DARE and all that about how horrible and life threatening smoking and drinking and marijuana were, year after year. But there was never much on how horrible obesity is and how it kills more people than anything ever in the US and how it is so expensive...

I think of this question because I see a lot of really obese people talking down to smokers about how gross and unhealthy it is, and then they order like a chilli cheese dog with chocolate syrup or something (equally as unhealthy and disgusting). There are many of them in my age group.

Why don't people care or preach as much about obesity? It's the largest epidemic in America.

Good question.
I have no idea.
Maybes it because people are under some sort of fantasy that 'Obesity is a condition that ISNT self inflicted.'
Ridiculous.

It is taught in schools just as much as smoking and drug abuse, along with information about eating disorders such as bulimia and anorexia.
Truth be told, being overweight (to a point) is not as unhealthy as being underweight. It is not a fact that overweight people go to the doctor more often or have more health issues than average weight people.
The major killer of people is really prolonged stress. So I guess education about stress reduction should be added to the list of what is taught in school too.

it's true that obesity is the largest epidemic in america, but no one is going to teach kids that obesity is bad cos it can be a genetic problem. it sounds like america needs to update their health promotion policies and health curriculum in schools

I agree with you................

If the government wanted a fit population the FDA would ban corn syrup and the other harmful chemicals that are causing the problem(as Europeans have), did you think it was a coincidence that obesity has increased like 1000% in the last 20 years in America?
Also think of the things people ate in the 1950's lots of foods loaded with butter and fat but there was not an obesity problem due to the lack of chemicals in the diet that prevent the fat from being properly metabolized, we NEED sugar and fat in our diets but the chemicals in foods today are the problem. Along with lack of physical activity due to the invention of modern technologies.