The April edition of Current Anthropology has published a study that indicates that stigma associated with obesity has spread to parts of the world where a larger figure not so long ago had positive connotations such as wealth, success and fertility. The study, conducted by Arizona State University does not really come to any conclusion other than there is a globalization in attitudes but we do not think that this attitudinal change will influence behaviour to any great degree. In the world’s most overweight territories such as the US and the UK, we have long associated being overweight with negative images such as ugliness, laziness and undesirability but this has not led to any reduction in obesity rates, which continue to rise apace.