Childhood Obesity And Food Advertising Essay

The Relation between Food Advertisements and Childhood Obesity We see it all around us. Bulletin boards along the highway, magazines, newspapers, the internet, and television. Food advertisements have become the king of all media advertisements. These ads are everywhere, and they are impacting our society and children in a negative way. In a study done by Dr. Rhonda Jolly in 2010, scientists discovered that 42 million children in the United States under the age of five years old were overweight (Jolly). Many of these children are overweight due to their cognitive response to food ads that come across their television screens. Even social medias, including Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, advertise foods to our younger generations. Researchers

Veerman discovered that a child between the ages of 2-11 years see an average of 11.5 minutes of food advertisements per day (Veerman). These children are starting to put themselves at a strong risk to overeat. Wiecha said that by each hour of television watched by a child increases the risk of intake in commonly advertised foods such as; fried food, snack foods, and soft drinks. The amount that is consumed after seeing these foods on advertisements is around five servings a day (Wiecha). Although children are affected by what they watch there are variables based on the environmental and cultural factors a child is in (Zimmerman). Even though there are multiple factors that increase obesity rates in children it is safe to say that media is a major key in what children eat. As children grow into young adults the greater chance that these food advertisements play a greater affect in what our younger generations consume. Obesity in children has been an increasing problem since the 1970’s. The Institute of Medicine recently studied the increasing problem of obesity in children. Since 1970 obesity rates have doubled in children ages 6 to 11 years old, and have almost tripled in children ages 12 to 19 years old (Nestle). These results strike a great concern for the health of how future generations will evolve along with the evolution of food