In today’s society children have an unhealthy outlook on the foods they desire due to the many different influences on their choices. Advertising such as television, radio, news, and commercials have many negative advertisements persuading children to consume the unhealthy foods shown. Foods advertised during prime-time programs for children are often high in fat and sugar, and low in fiber and nutrients. Healthy foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, milk, and low-fat items, are rarely advertised leading children to desire those less than the unhealthy foods shown. Studies show that there is a worldwide trend in increasing childhood overweight and obesity. National data proves that school-aged children in nearly every country studied provides the predicted weight results. Consumption of fast food and soft drinks contributes to the rise in child obesity, but there are strong associations between the duration of daily television viewing and child obesity. Increased television viewing in children is associated with reduced fruit and vegetable intake, and a decreased amount of healthy food consumption with an increase of unhealthy food consumption due to the excessive amounts of influence though food advertisements. Van den Bulck and Van Meirlo (2007) found that each addition hour of television viewed per day caused an additional six hundred and thirty five calories consumed. Television viewing is a popular time-consuming hobby for children across the globe, but not only does viewing television waste time and entertain children it introduces them to the unhealthy food advertisements meant to target children and persuade their desired food consumption. Halford (2007) found that each week children watch an average ... ... middle of paper ... ...g the product is popular and the thing to do. (Jones, Kervin (2010)) Most research shows that television is a major influence on children’s choice of foods. However, magazines also have a slight influence on food choices they are just not as strong as television advertisements. Children’s food choices, and their consequences, is an issue worldwide. It is estimated that there are more than twenty one million overweight or obese children, and each year it is estimated that the number increases by one million. In the United States of America it is estimated that 35% of all children are considered overweight or obese. Advertising has been proved to be an important factor in children’s eating habits. There is increasing evidence that food advertising targeted at children is predominantly for unhealthy foods resulting in child hood obesity. (Jones, Kervin (2010))
Authors of the article say that children started watching more television then it was twenty-thirty years ago. Obviously it leads to inactivity and as a result to obesity. Furthermore, the article main point is television as a popular tool among children could be used for spreading correct information on good nutrient and obesity prevention. Authors mention that usually depiction of food in television has many negative consequences on food habits. In many cases, characters from movies or cartoons eat unhealthy food and provide bad examples to follow. The article supports its idea with
George Parker once said, “The only people who care about advertising are the people who work in advertising." Advertisers use many different techniques that target children and teens. Many people do not realize how harmful this can turn out to be. Advertising plays a harmful role in the lives of youth because it poses health risks, prevents children and teens from saving money, and exposes them to way too many ads.
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
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.
Obesity is a very complicated disease and there is no simple cause or cure. Obesity refers to the gaining of weight which occurs when the body takes in more calories than it burns. These excess calories then become fat, leading to increases in weight. There are many factors in the onset of obesity. A major factor is sociocultural factors. Society today plays an important role in how we view food and influences our decisions on meal choices. In today's society, meals are made to be quick and easy, often being high in fat, sugar, salt and calories and lacking nutritional value. Television and advertising also focus on unhealthy food choices, which appeal to children with colorful marketing and toys or games. Furthermore, society has also succumbed to a somewhat sedentary or lethargic lifestyle. Physical activity is on the decline and the relationship between reduced exercise and weight gain has been shown to be a major factor in obesity. Many jobs require sitting in one place in front of a computer for much of the day, children often sit for hours watching television or playing video games instead of engaging in physical activities or sports. This results in weight gain because people do not exercise enough to burn the calories they are consuming.
...f television advertisements for junk food versus nutritious food on children's food attitudes and preferences. Social science & medicine, 65, (7), pp. 1311-1323.
The fast food industry is one of the largest sectors of the United States economy. Companies such as Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell, McDonalds and KFC have all become household names. Each of these companies operates under a similar mission statement: to serve a quick, filling meal for a very low cost. The primary marketing medium for these companies is television where via commercials, they can portray both their products and a lifestyle. Their intense advertising focus on minorities and children, however, has begun to exacerbate the epidemic of obesity that is sweeping our nation. Fast food's televised advertising is a significant contributor to obesity in today's minority youth. By promoting unhealthy tendencies and high-calorie foods as well as an attitude that promotes tolerance of diseases such as obesity, these companies are influencing people to such a degree that it is negatively affecting their health. This dangerous marketing method is not only sweeping America, but other countries as well. The emphasis on fast food companies' immoral marketing raises the question: Are people eating for hunger or because of an advertised, influenced habit? However, we must also address whether or not fast food companies are mainly responsible, or if the blame also covers their consumers.
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.
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.
What are some the implications media is having on the youth of today? Are parents competing with sophisticated physiologically designed media to keep their children healthy and safe? How and why does advertisement influence the social, physical, cognitive, and moral development of young children? The major influence in the social construct of moral and cognitive development of an individual is the family. Due to the influences on the youth of today, parents need to be more aware, and combat the effects of advertising on children.
Advertising has had a powerful impact on today’s children. From songs, to logos. to characters, advertisers keep in mind their audiences. Competition is the force which causes advertisers to target children. Children are targeted through the catch phrases. animated characters, and toys in these competitive advertisements.
As a little girl I loved watching television shows on Saturday mornings. I’d get upset when a show would proceed to commercial. That is until I watched the shiny new toy being played with by the girl my age and of course the cool new one that came into the happy meal, then I’d forget. After seeing the appealing commercial I’d run to my mom and try to slickly mention it. “You know McDonalds has a new Monster’s Inc. toy in their happy meal. Isn’t that great? “Now I realize that back then I was targeted by big companies to beg my parents for things that I didn’t need or that wasn’t good for me in order to make money. Advertising today is affecting the health of today’s children because they eat the unhealthy foods advertised to them on: television, the internet, and even at school. Therefore, an impassioned discussion of possible solutions has been brewing.
The advertising is a method of communication that has a big purpose which is to persuade the audience to buy their products .Today, advertising is very remarkable and has an essential role in community.as it tends to impact on children specially. In addition, nowadays, the children are watching too much television and use the social media than previous years. Therefore, they see more advertising. Besides, although there are some good impacts of advertising on young minds, the researchers shown that, the advertising can also have several bad influences on children, particularly, if parents are incautious and do not increase the awareness of their children about the importance of money.