Over 50s such as me may remember an advertising campaign from decades ago - when Australians were a considerably thinner nation of people than we are now - for diet pills which asked: "Are you too fat, too fat, too fat?"
That ad, and probably the diet pills it promoted, are long gone, and so is the skinny nation you see in old newsreel footage of Australia in the decades after World War II.
In fact, Australia is now rated the world's fattest nation, with more than half the population considered overweight.
This relatively recent development has had dire consequences for our national health and well-being, not to mention our medical bills.
Last year an Access Economics report released by the Federal Government stated that the national obesity epidemic was costing the nation $58 billion a year in health bills.
The report said 3.71 million Australians were obese, and 242,000 suffered from Type II Diabetes directly attributed to their obesity.
Likewise, 650,000 suffered from cardiovascular disease related to their weight, and so on with respiratory problems, hypertension and a host of other ailments.
Everything from ambulances to hospital beds are being redesigned for our soaring body sizes.
Although a few personalities have undertaken public weight-loss programs recently, there hasn't been much evidence that these shocking statistics have had a real motivating effect on the general population.
If anything, Australia is in denial about the way we have pursued and surpassed Americans in the overweight stakes (the irony of that beer ad about sending carbs to the Americans "where they are needed most" is breathtaking).
So it will be interesting to see what the reaction is to a new advertising campaign that started yesterday for the healthy fast-food chain Sumo Salad (which incidentally is not in Wollongong, so this is not a free plug).
The ads have been on YouTube, and are an unashamed parody of the Federal Government's "Quit" anti-smoking campaign.
This time people are urged to "quit" moobs (man boobs), muffin tops (flab overhanging at the waist) and cankles (swollen ankles which blend into the calf) by, you guessed it, eating salads (from Sumo, of course) instead of chips, greasy chicken and hamburgers.
As a large lad happily tucks into a greasy chicken drumstick, the voice-over man announces in his most serious tone: "Every greasy chicken limb is doing you damage - bad fats pass into your body, causing moobs."
Sumo Salads managing director Luke Baylis told media website Mumbrella: "With 62 per cent of Australians now classified as overweight, it's surprising that a lot of people don't seem to see themselves in this bracket.
"By taking a more light-hearted approach to the issue, we want Aussies to face up to the fact that you don't have to be obese to be unhealthy - muffin tops and moobs are all tell-tale signs of not eating a balanced diet."
No doubt the "in denial" lobby will complain that the ads are too confronting, and that it isn't fair to poke fun at people who can't help being too large.
But maybe a bit of humour is exactly what we need to realise just how serious the situation has become. We are too fat, too fat, too fat - simple as that.
Nick Hartgerink is a former Mercury editor who now runs his own media consultancy.
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