A couple years ago, my mother didn’t want clothes, jewelry, or even a day at the spa for Christmas. She wanted a Nintendo Wii. Video games? Are you kidding me? No, she wasn’t. She specifically wanted Wii Fit, the game where you can do yoga and other exercises on a balancing board, and though my brother and I were skeptical, we granted her wish. A few months later, the machine was collecting dust.
It’s a story I like to remind my mother about every once in a while, especially when I go back to visit. (My 20 minutes of MarioKart is probably the only action that Wii sees anymore.) Even if the games had her attention for more than a few weeks, they’re apparently not a long-term solution for exercise.
That’s why I’m surprised, like many others, to see the American Heart Association (AHA) put its famous heart label on the Wii. The same logo of endorsement we see on cereal boxes and other food packaging now appears on a $200 Nintendo console, as well as two games, Wii Fit Plus and Wii Sports Resort.
To be fair, the Wii is different from other video game consoles, and many people have recognized that it does indeed get people off the couch and moving. It’s a better alternative to other gaming systems, and even the US Navy has recently considered using the Wii to train recruits. But the Wii is not a proven way to good health: A review in Pediatrics last year found little benefit from “exergaming,” with energy expenditure among children reaching moderate levels only in certain games.
AHA President Clyde Yancy defended the Nintendo partnership to ABC News, saying “We can ignore the audience that is engaged with gaming – a huge audience – or we can find a different way of engaging that audience.” I agree that we shouldn’t ignore the millions who play video games, but we also shouldn’t accept an unhealthy behavior. There are plenty of other activities out there for the AHA to endorse and promote. Flicking your wrist and waving a controller should be near the bottom of that list.
Even more troubling than these low standards are the motives behind the AHA/Nintendo campaign. Over the course of three years, Nintendo will reportedly donate $1.5 million to the AHA. That much money makes it all the more difficult to believe “The logo is not for sale,” as Yancy describes to ABC. It hurts the AHA’s credibility and makes the association less of an authority on healthy lifestyles. Nintendo, meanwhile, likely expects a “heart-healthy” Wii will mean healthy sales. The company has a dominant share of the console market, but Wii sales have gone downhill recently and need a boost.
So whether or not the Wii is good for your health, this partnership is an unhealthy sign for the future. Don’t get me wrong: I enjoy playing with the Wii. But I would prefer to see it collect dust rather than become the new standard for physical activity. There are plenty of other things we can do instead.
Image by Stephen Cummings via Flickr Creative Commons