The Influence Of Fast Food Advertising

“If today’s youth consumed fast food occasionally, this would not be a public health crisis” (Harris, et al. 2010). The one thing everyone wonders is how fast food companies manage to have so many loyal customers despite all of the non-nutritional food that they supply their buyers with. The answer is advertising. The power advertisements have to influence decisions and affect people’s lives especially those of a younger age is astounding. Advertisers know just how and who to target. In Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation, he tells the reader how advertisers use specific techniques like “cradle-to-grave” creating lifelong consumers in kids. Schlosser, like many other researchers, have found that advertising to kids when they’re younger make them be loyal to the company, and a child’s “brand loyalty” may begin as early as the age of two (Schlosser, p. 43). Fast food advertising exploits and harms children all over the world, therefore it is important for people to take precautionary measures and put a limit to this epidemic.

In order to advertise and gain more consumers advertisers know that they must deal with certain factors such as the age element. Children today consume vast majorities of media spending sometimes up to 44.5 hours or more per week watching television, on the computer, or on game screens (American Psychological Association, 2009). With this being said it allows fast food advertisers to know just where they can grasp the attention of the young. When targeting kids who are younger, a study done by Bernhardt showed that sixty-nine percent of ads aimed at children included toys and in some way movie tie-ins were present (2013). The American Psychological Association stated in their research, children six and under of...

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...ly to children and teens so that the consumption of unhealthy foods can stop being purchased. Limiting fast food advertising on children’s television networks, stopping unfair marketing targeted to children (ads that focus on promotions and not the food), and ensuring that specific age groups are not targeted in in certain ways will all be beneficial to the health of a child.

The way kids are consuming fast food nowadays is out of control. Fast food advertising seems to have its hold on the youth and certain measures need to be taken to stop it. Fast food advertising lures children in of all ages but the way it is harming and exploiting the youth is often ignored until it’s too late. Everyone sees the external damage that fast food is causing, and that is exactly why parents, schools, and the government itself need to be cautious and take precautionary measures.