The UK government has just launched an alleged attack on the games industry. The Department of Health’s Change4Life ads show a young boy holding a PlayStation 3 controller under the headline “Risk an early death, just do nothing.”

While the government’s own research states "there is a lack of conclusive evidence" about the impact of technology in general on obesity. Also, the games industry is lauded by the government as one of Britain’s strongest creative sectors

The UK Games Industry employs 22,000 people directly (just in development and publishing) and ranks 4th in the world by revenues.

The Change4Life campaign links early death and young gamers through its misleading message.

The backlash campaign, co-ordinated by Nicholas Lovell of Gamesbrief, aims to encourage the Department of Health to rethink its strategy and stop blaming videogames for all society’s ills.

Nicholas Lovell, founder of Gamesbrief, said “We had all hoped that following the Byron Review and many discussions with government, this kind of lazy, kneejerk thinking had disappeared. Well it hasn’t, and it’s up to us to remind the government that 60% of Britons play games, and gamers are voters too.”

The anti-Change4Life campaign urges gamers to:
1. Complain to the Advertising Standards Authority about this misleading ad.
2. Join the Facebook group Change4Life - gamers fight back to show your abhorrence of lazy stereotyping.
3. Twitter it: #change4life reckons the games industry is the cause of obesity despite no evidence #fail http://bit.ly/yrpS

By joining in you can help fight back against the unfair stereotyping of gamers., games and the industry.