Should food companies be restricted to advertise to children? It's been a debated topic around the whole world. Food companies should be restricted from children. There are some things a child should know on how they advertise, where they advertise, the effects of their advertising, and the government regulations. Although food company advertisements can be bad they also have economic benefits.
To begin with, in order to know if food companies should be restricted from advertising to children it is important to know how they advertise. There are many different ways in which food companies food companies advertise to children. Some of those ways include, playgrounds, cartoons, toys, happy memories, bright colors and more. According to SuperSize
…show more content…
Some effects include, childhood obesity, cancer, diabetes type two, heart disease, binge eating, pot belly, or shortness of breath. Childhood obesity is becoming more common because of fast food advertisements. According to an interview with Dr. Rosen, a hematology/oncology specialist, he stated,”Diabetes, HTN (hypertension), heart disease, heart attack, stroke, and cancer.” This shows, some of the diseases of childhood obesity will cause. Moreover, according to CBS news,” Every day, nearly one-third of U.S. children aged 4 to 19 eat fast food, which likely packs on about six extra pounds per child per year and increases the risk of obesity,” (http://www.cbsnews.com/news/fast-food- linked-to-child-obesity/ 1). This is talking about how fast food is contributing to children becoming obese and thus experiencing the effects of obesity. Also, according to healthyeating.sfgate, they mentioned that in a 2004 study called “the lancet” if the average person eats fast food two or more times a week, it increases the chance of getting type two diabetes and a ton of weight gain. This shows some of the effects of fast food advertisements, along with an experiment to back it up. Since all of this is happening the obesity rates are going up drastically. For example, according to brainpop, one out of three children are obese or overweight in the United States. That number is increasing also …show more content…
According to Supersize Me,” Lobbyist go to talk to the law makers to make sure they didn't pass any laws that would hurt their company, and also they also try to convince them to pass laws for their benefit.” According to CNN, “The "cheeseburger bill," as it has been dubbed in Congress, stems from class-action litigation that accused McDonald's of causing obesity in children.” This shows that food companies hire lobbyists to make sure they don’t pass bad laws about their company, and pass good laws. This shows an example of lobbyist work, because the lobbyist convinced the government to pass the "cheeseburger bill". Also, food sizes have
From cartoon and sports to having the toys in meals in a huge display and lowered. There are even advertisements that trick adults. They are convincing, but it can all be stopped with just simple reminders that it’s not real or it’s not good to have this in your body. These reminders can help America become less obese and more health conscious and can even affect the way children think as they grow up surrounded by them. The United States is slowly increasing its awareness of the condition that it is in by companies improving foods and people paying more attention to the nutrition’s in foods. Also many food companies have died down on television advertising for kids, but it is still found in other expressed ways. While it is okay to advertise the question of is it okay to advertise to children is still not answered. It all depends on the consumers what is right and wrong and how to approach each product. Obesity from these products can be cured by hard exercise, but this is not recommended for children. It is more efficient for children to just eat healthy as they are still growing each day. So the next time an ad pops up on the screen and that little girl or boy is focused on it try to explain to them by reading the ingredients or the nutrition label why they should not eat it often. With small steps like these children
There should be limit’s that stop’s food companies from promoting themselves as appealing when in reality their food products are a hazard to our bodies. As Barboza states in his article “There is a need to set specific standards on what is marketed to children…” we are in agreement that, what ever kids see on T.V. or being marketed, they want it! As a child I remember that I wanted many things I saw on T.V. like Carl's Jr, Lucky Charms, Mcdonald's, Gushers, ect… When eating these food products, as you get older it affects your health. A good
Obesity can be caused by a combination of fast food and the environment people live in today. Fast food contains foods that are high in fats, sugars, and starches. These ingredients have rarely any nutritional value to the human body. Most of the foods available at fast food restaurants like McDonalds, Burger King, and KFC contain concentrated salt and preservatives to enhance the flavor in them. Obesity has become the defining aspect of our nation by surrounding the people with fast food products. The freedom to choose what one wants, gives the fast food companies the right to give one unhealthy food. The consumption of fast food products regularly greatly increases one’s chance of having health disparities such as Coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers, stroke, Hypertension, and Osteoarthritis. These negative effects are present with the daily eating of fast foods.
However, when creating fast food restaurants, the industries were not thinking about the negative effects such as obesity. Other than obesity, other harmful effects exist as well. Fast food restaurants serve unhealthy products such as greasy foods and artificial meat that lead to dietary health issues in many adults and children. A recent study showed that “Young children who are fed processed, nutrient-poor foods are likely to become unhealthy teenagers, and eventually unhealthy adults. Now twenty-three percent of teens in the U.S. are pre-diabetic or diabetic, 22% have high or borderline high LDL cholesterol levels, and 14% have hypertension or prehypertension”
Any agency that uses children for marketing schemes spend hundreds of billions dollars each year world wide persuading and manipulating consumer’s lifestyles that lead to overindulgence and squandering. Three articles uncover a social problem that advertising companies need to report about. In his research piece “Kid Kustomers” Eric Schlosser considers the reasons for the number of parents that allow their children to consume such harmful foods such as ‘McDonalds’. McDonalds is food that is meant to be fast and not meant to be a regular diet. Advertising exploits children’s needs for the wealth of their enterprise, creating false solutions, covering facts about their food and deceiving children’s insecurities. It contains dissatisfaction that leads to over consumption. Children are particularly vulnerable to this sort of manipulation, American Psychological Association article, “Youth Oriented Advertising” reveals the facts upon the statics on consumers in the food industries. The relationship that encourages young children to adapt towards food marketing schemes, make them more vulnerable to other schemes, such as, advertising towards clothing, toys and cars. Article writer of “The relationship between cartoon trade character recognition and attitude toward product category in young children”, Richard Mizerski, discusses a sample that was given to children ages three to six years old, about how advertising incurs young children that are attracted too certain objects or products on the market.
Scientists claim that the consumption of fast food leads to rapid weight gain, heart attacks, diabetes, reduced immunity, irreversible changes in the liver, raising the level of cholesterol in the blood. The fat contained in fast food, mainly consists of saturated fatty acids, which are deposited on the walls of blood vessels.
Many people all around the world and especially in the United States are paying money to poison their own bodies. Fast food is a major problem in the United States. Many people are attracted to fast food restaurants because of their low prices, but fast food is the cause of many health issues and is the main reason for the growing population of obese individuals in America. Although fast food can be a good option for a quick and cheap meal, fast food is very bad for the human body because it is full of questionable ingredients and can cause obesity, heart disease and raise cholesterol.
Fast food has become an increasingly dangerous topic, due to the fact that it is affecting our lifestyle, and all of the human beings on Earth. Fast food affects society in more than one way, including providing food at a low price and enormous amounts of food in a short time. For years the argument about how healthy fast food is and how it could become healthier has become stronger as the amount of people becoming obese also increases. The general public believes that fast food could be the cause of obesity in adolescence. Even though many people may think that fast food is unhealthy, many of these restaurants are good for other reasons, because they provide large amounts of food at a low price.
It is the parent’s choice if they want to but the product. “There are no true legal grounds to support it, and honestly, everyone has a right to choose. Eating junk food is a life choice and should not be ashamed. It’s also a double edged sword to put forth a ban on ads and could hurt the industry.”(Should junk food) There is no good reason to ban junk food and fast food ads. “Junk food ads should not be banned during children’s programming because it’s the parents who should regulate what their kids eat or watch, not the companies.”(Should junk food) It is also not the company’s responsibility to keep the kids healthy but it i...
Worcester Polytechnic Institution. "Fast Food Marketing to Children." Public Health Communication. (2007). http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/E-project/Available/E-project-082107-231740/unrestricted/Appendix_1.pdf (accessed February 17, 2014).
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,
Through Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation he examines the effects that fast food has impacted the world and the way it is affecting the people that are consuming it. As the fast food industry continues to grow throughout not only the United States but the whole world, marketing companies are always looking for ways to broaden the group of people that are interested in buying their product over another company’s. As a marketer for a fast food company it is essential to have a group of people that you can rely on to always buy the company’s product, to many fast food companies they found this group of people to be adolescents and children. Marketing groups specifically market their products to entice this group of people to lure them in. Food is an object that is needed for the survival of a human, but the type of food that humans chose to eat is also not always the best. Because fast food is so cheap and easily accessible just about everywhere you turn your head, many people resort to eating it even though it is very unhealthy. With these factors present, many adults have exposed their children to fast food at a young age, these parents do not always think about the long term effects of feeding their children fast food because they are so caught up in the moment of feeding their kids right then and there; they do not think about the health risks that can occur later as a result from eating fast food now.
Fast food is a significant contributor to child weight gain because children are not eating healthily prepared and cooked foods at home. Most parents tend to prefer fast food meals because some of them are overworked and do not have time to prepare healthy meals for their children. As a result, they take their children to fast food restaurants to have breakfast or lunch and they order desserts that have more sugar intake. Many health problems are caused by obesity because being obese interrupts the function of the insulin hormone in the body and this hormone is responsible for regulating blood sugar. Overweight children tend to suffer from diabetes.
McGinnis, J. Michael., Jennifer Appleton. Gootman, and Vivica I. Kraak. Food Marketing to Children and Youth: Threat or Opportunity? Washington, D.C.: National Academies, 2006. Print.
One of the effects is that junk food contains a high amount of unhealthy ingredients. The sugar and oil in junk food gives the body extra calories that the body doesn’t need which will later be unhealthy fats. Fast food also contains high number of calories and sugar, which does not gives the body any nutritional value. Junk food has a high amount of sodium, which will increase the risks of heart diseases. According to Eric Schlosser (n.d) in “The bad effects of fast food,” that fast food is popular because its convenient, it’s cheap, and it tastes good, But the real cost of eating fast food never appears on the menu. Your body and health should mean a lot to you, you should keep it clean and healthy. To do that