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Food advertising causing obesity
Bad impacts of junk food advertising on children
Bad impacts of junk food advertising on children
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Recommended: Food advertising causing obesity
Obesity rates continue to rise, especially among adolescents. Which is why it is important to understand the role that advertising plays on the Obesity epidemic. If there is a correlation it is important to look at different policies in the political world that could combat unhealthy food advertisements to children. Since obesity is such a significant problem, it is vital to find out what is causing or influencing obesity rates to rise so that preventative measures can be implemented. Six different sources will be used to provide evidence for the effects of advertising on obesity. Children are targeted by unhealthy food advertisements every day, which is why there needs to be a solution to poor nutritional food advertisements. In the article Food Marketing to Youth Mollie Grow and Marlene Shwartz give insight to one solution that would “eliminate the tax write-offs companies receive for advertising unhealthy foods to children”. This would be a good policy to reduce food marketing that promotes unhealthy food choices among children. This article is helpful in showing preventative measures that can be taken to help reduce Obesity.
Food industries utilize branding so that children can recognize food brands from a young age. Food branding impacts food preference among adolescents, which in turn could possibly influence obesity. In
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In the article Advertising and Childhood Obesity: The Role of the Federal Government in Limiting Children’s Exposure to Unhealthy Food Advertisements Milena Mikailova talks about how Obesity rates continue to rise, which is why “congress should provide explicit direction to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) to restrict the advertisement of unhealthy foods during children’s programming”. This would be one way of taking preventive measures to combat the growing obesity
In the documentary Killer at Large, former Surgeon General Richard Carmona remarked that “Obesity is a terror within. It’s destroying our society from within and unless we do something about it, the magnitude of the dilemma will dwarf 9/11 or any other terrorist event that you can point out…” Carmona is indeed right, with the rapid increase of obese children, America is on the fast track to producing a generation with a life expectancy shorter than their peers. One of the main factor is the media representation of obesity (Greenstreet 2008). In today’s society parents are not only worrying about televisions influence on their kid’s behavior but their weight and health, too. According to study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, that researched the role of media in childhood obesity, stated the obesity increased by 2% for every hours of television in adolescent’s ages 12 to 17. The advertisement of food and beverages present a very strong influence on the children. Most of the products being advert...
Obesity in the United States, which the media has labeled a national crisis, has also been connected to poverty rates. Big fast food industry’s target poor communities, and spend millions of dollars each year to create advertising that appeals to these specific areas. These industry’s also target naïve children when advertising because they know that eating habits developed in childhood are usually carried into adulthood. Children who are exposed to television advertisements for unhealthy food and who are not educated well enough on good nutrition will grow up and feed their families the same unhealthy foods they ate as kids. A big way fast food giants are able to make certain young people have access to unhealthy food is by strategically placing franchises in close proximity to schools. They will often place three times as many outlets within walking distance of schools than in areas where there are no schools nearby. The way fast food advertising is targeted towards children is very alarming considering how important good nutrition is for young people and how a child’s eating habits can affect their growth and
Veerman, J. L., Van Beeck, E. F., Banerndregt, J. J., & Mackenbach, J. P. (2009). By how much would limiting TV food advertising reduce childhood obesity? European Journal of Public Health,, 19(4), 365-369. doi: Retrieved from
...ance, there needs to be organizations that limit food advertising; just as was done with cigarettes. Even though it is evident that fast-food companies are winning the marketing battle, their success depends solely on their returning customers. Should people stop eating the tempting fast food, and start making time in their day for exercise, not only would fast food companies suffer greatly, but we might have a chance to veer away from our heavy fates. Most importantly, media productions that educate people on the truths of the fast food industry should continue to focus on the risks and consequences of obesity, particularly on groups most susceptible to targeting from fast-food companies? marketing campaigns: minorities and children. With increased education and a pro-active stance on regular exercise, people can start to reverse the trend of obesity in America.
The overall rate of obesity for children comes in at 17 percent, or about 12.5 million obese children in America today (Doheny 1). The number of children who are obese is growing at a fast rate. Most cases of childhood obesity are caused by eating too much and exercising too little. Extra weight puts children at a risk of serious health problems; such as, diabetes, heart disease, and asthma (Smith 1). Although obesity can be prevented, it has become a growing problem among children due to several factors that lead to health problems.
Americans are constantly facing obstacles to healthy eating. Obesity is something that is growing rapidly in the United States. Some Americans argue that fast-food restaurants play a major role in obesity. In “Preventing Obesity” Barbara Mantel states, “Four of the companies — Cadbury, Coca-Cola, Hershey and Mars — pledge not to advertise any food and beverage products on programming for children younger than 12, and the remaining firms pledge that 100 percent of their children's advertising would be for self-designated ‘better-for-you’ products ” (805-806). Whenever children see a junk-food or candy commercial they are instantly attracted to it, it might be because of how colorful they are or the usual toy they receive when they buy kids
(2012). Fast Food Advertising is linked to Rising Childhood and Teen Obesity. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Retrieved: April 24, 2014 from http://ic.galegroup.com.ezproxy1.lib.asu.edu/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=OVIC&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Viewpoints&limiter=&u=asuniv&currPage=&disableHighlighting=true&displayGroups=&sortBy=&source=&search_within_results=&p=OVIC&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%...
According to “Burger Battles” from the Weekly Reader, obesity is defined as a person whose weight is 20 percent higher than recommended for their height (Burger Battles 1). When this condition begins to affect children lives, it is then known as childhood obesity. Within the United States of America, around 15 percent of children are considered to be obese (Holguin 3). Increasing tremendously, this outbreak has actually tripled in the amount of obese teen and doubled in children up to the age of thirteen (Burger Battles 2). One of the factors that is usually overlooked in the cause for obesity is the role of television. Not only does it reduce the amount of physical activity, the advertisements and commercials are targeting innocent viewers. In a survey completed by Gary Ruskin of Commercial Alert, the average child watches nearly 19 hours and 40 minutes of television a week (Ruskin 2). With that amount of time spent watching television, advertisements for fast food will be entering the children’s minds.
Food advertising contributes to childhood obesity in many ways. One of them being that the food advertised is unhealthy. “The mechanism of effect of media exposure on obesity may also operate through the extensive advertising messages for unhealthy foods targeted at children.” (Agarwal, Dhanasekaran) The food advertising geared towards children makes them develop unhealthy eating habits, and choices. The advertisements are usually advertising unhealthy foods, never healthy ones. “When children watch television, they cannot escape food advertising. “Sugared snacks and drinks, cereal, and fast food advertisements respectively comprise approximately thirty-two percent, thirty-one percent, and nine percent of all advertisements marketed specifically to children.” (Termini, Roberto, Hostetter) Due to limited cognitive abilities, children view many food advertisements, and don’t really have the knowledge or capability to comprehend that the food being advertised is not healthy.
It is said that fast food advertising is linked to rising childhood and teen obesity. The childhood obesity epidemic is a serious public health problem that increases morbidity, morality, and has substantial long-term economic and social costs (opposing viewpoints). Approximately 20% of our youth are now overweight with obesity rates in preschool age children increasing at alarming speed (opposing viewpoints). U.S. Surgeon General Richard Carmona said, “obesity is the fastest-growing cause of illness and death in the United States.” When I read this I was shocked. This is something that can change, but its up to ourselves to make that commitment. No one else has the power to do so but us. Did you know that treating obesity-related problems cost Americans $117 billion annually, that’s $420 per person (CQ Researcher).
One way that fast food effects obesity is by advertising their products to children (Miller). In her article Food Advertising Contributes to Obesity, Patti Miller explains that the fast food companies are targeting kids and teenagers by advertising on television. The fast food advertisements are promoting unhealthy products as acceptable food which influences children to choose those meals. The American Psychological Association, an organization focused on improving the lives of individuals, expressed that with the exposure of different fast food commercials, children request to purchase these unhealthy products and cause the parents to be influenced by these requests. This concludes the idea that once children are encouraged by the commercials, they opt to consume the fast food advertised on television. Today, fast food companies are even advertising through schools by offering pizzas and burgers as school lunches, which consequently becomes a daily meal for children and teenagers to consume (Wadden, Brownell,
Beales III, J. Howard, and Robert Kulick. Does Advertising On Television Cause Childhood Obesity? A Longitudinal Analysis. Journal Of Public Policy & Marketing 32.2 (2013): 185-194. Business Source Complete. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.
Obesity simply put, is an excessive amount of body fat. Obesity puts children at increased risk of disease and other health-related problems. Childhood obesity is a very serious and ongoing problem-putting children on the pathway to health conditions earlier in their life such as diabetes, elevated cholesterol, hypertension. Childhood obesity also has a link to depression as well as affects the self-esteem of children and adolescent. I recently performed a community teaching on childhood obesity and will be discussing the teaching experience, observation, summary of the teaching plan, epidemiological rationale for childhood obesity, evaluation of my teaching and the community’s response to the teaching.
Moerdyk, Chris. "Advertising Alone Cannot Be Blamed for Childhood Obesity." Ed. David M. Haugen. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2008. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 Mar. 2014.
The first reason that junk food advertisements should be banned during children’s programmes is that they might lead to childhood obesity which is considered to be linked with the amount of commercials watched. This fact could be illustrated by the noticeable increase in the rate of overweight children which was 13% of those aged 6-10 and 14% of aged 12-19 during the last thirty years which obviously have faced a significant increase in the commercials rate (ScienceDaily, 2008). Since most of the advertised products are high-fat and high-sugar, the consumption of this food is likely to result in obesity. Many people believe that banning these commercial would cut the rate of this overweight children. Moreover, a new study conducted by the National Bureau of Economic Research states that banning fast food advertisements i...