Nearly one in five children in the United States is obese. The question really is: how are these children getting obese? Studies have shown that, without a doubt, fast food is a major contributor. More recently, especially in high schools, fast food restaurants and “a la carte” menus have made their way into the daily diet of children. This has been done as an effort to increase revenue in school lunch programs. Though, the appearance of fast food companies in schools may seem like only commodities, they instead promote obesity and unhealthy habits among future generations. Children who are exposed to fast food might not realize what is right and wrong because of influential advertising campaigns. Many times fast foods are advertised as nutritious and good for the growth of children and fitness of children. This is most definitely not the case. When kids are in the constant presence of fast foods, during the school day, in this case, they become “hooked” on the brand (Simon). One example of a misleading advertisement is one that has been used very often in schools, McDonalds “Passport to Play.” The program was developed to introduce healthy eating habits and exercise. The underlying effect, however, is that McDonald’s foods become more popular (Molnar). According to the American Medical Association, McDonald’s spent $500 million dollars on the advertising campaign “We Love to See You Smile,” showing just how much money goes into gaining more customers. Another example of a similar marketing campaign is run by Pizza Hut. The “Book It!” program is used to reward readers with Pizza merchandise and other items corresponding to their business (Molnar). Though the advertisements may be a well intentioned support of education, they al... ... middle of paper ... ...www.stopcorporateabuse.org/fast-food-schools>. Simon, Michele. "Food Safety News." Food Safety News. N.p., 9 Apr. 2013. Web. 13 Jan. 2014. . Blacksher, Erika. "Children's Health Inequalities: Ethical and Political Challenges..." Hastings Center Report Vol. 38, No. 4. Jul/Aug 2008: 28-35. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. Ruskin, Gary. "The Fast Food Trap." Mothering No. 121. Nov./Dec. 2003: 34-44. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 14 Jan. 2014. "Tim Mertz: Stealth Nutritionist."foodservicedirector.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2014. . Crary, David. "Amid 'War on Obesity,' Skeptics Warn of Stigma." Buffalo News. 01 May. 2011: n.p. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.
Schools with enormous food courts where students can buy meals and drinks from commonly known franchises, such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola, are the schools with the most health problems. Fast-food franchises are showing up everywhere, but do these businesses belong in high schools? No! Schools are here to enlighten students for life after school. If high schools promote bad eating habits by placing fast-food franchises in their cafeterias, then how can students eat right and healthy beyond high school.
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
Lehmann, Deborah. "Why School Cafeterias Are Dishing Out Fast Food (page 2)." Education.com. Education, 21 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.
Sobal, Jeffery (2004), ‘Sociological Analysis of the Stigmatisation of Obesity”, in John Germov and Lauren Williams (Editors), A Sociology of Food and Nutrition. The Social Appetite, Oxford, Oxford University Press
How many obese children have you seen today? Obesity is one of the largest health problems Americans are currently facing. It can lead to many baleful complications, including heart disease, diabetes, sleep apnea, cancer, mobility issues, high blood pressure, bullying, and lack of self-esteem. According to the CDC, about 17% of children and adolescents aged 2-19 are obese, and 30% are overweight. In adults, around 70% are overweight and 30% are obese. Nevertheless, our nation’s public schools are continuously promoting virulent foods through its lunch programs and on-campus advertisements. Although I understand that unhealthy food is cheaper and tastier, we must remember that those foods are causing our nation’s children to become obese. Factors such as cheap unhealthy foods in school lunches, junk food ads in schools, and teachers eating pernicious foods in class are causing more and more children to make the easy choice, the unhealthy choice. Obesity is a growing epidemic in the U.S, one that we need to promptly eradicate.
Since the fast food industry is targeting America’s youth, providing healthier options on children’s menus will reduce the rate of childhood obesity and allow for a healthy future.
When we think about this problem, we point fingers at unhealthy fast food restaurants and school lunch programs, saying their foods and serving sizes are to blame. People argue that ad campaigns aim at young children, making them victims of the fast food industry. Schools are selling unhealthy food to children during school hours whether it is during lunch time or having a vending machine placed in every corner of the school full of unhealthy snacks. “However, all human beings have power to exercise free will, even young children” (Vigarello, 15). Children follow the people who are around them the most which are their parents. Parents influence children the minute they are born. Children will always follow what their parents do and if the parents are living an unhealthy lifestyle, soon enough their child will be living the same one. Until we stop children from eating at fast food restaurants and change their eating habits and exercise routine, obesity in the United States will not go away.
The American diet has changed dramatically in the past couple centuries and so has the restaurant industry. The result of this change in Americans actions and diets is a rising obesity rate among children. In the 1970s, the childhood obesity rate was five percent of children (2-19 years old). The obesity rates doubled in the 1980s and by 2008 16.9% of children were obese (Grossklavs and Marvlesin). The percentage of obese children has more than tripled in the last 40 years. The growing epidemic is dangerous and alarming. There are many factors that contribute to the dramatic rise of obesity children. As obesity has grown, so has the fast food industry. “Between 1977 and 1995, the percentage of meals and snacks eaten at fast food restaurants doubled,” (...
Advertising for fast food disproportionately targets children, obesity rates are going up, there are labs dedicated to creating food flavors, and the cleanliness of the restaurants where the food itself is served is questionable. The negative impacts the fast food industry has on the world have their roots in biology. The taste of the food is engineered to appeal to our taste buds, and after the access to fast food increased, our bodies began to crave it. Clearly, the fast food industry must undergo significant change to ensure its impact on the world is a positive one. It’s imperative that this change must be made within the near future, should the mass consumption of unsanitary food be prevented, and ensure that cheap food is somewhat
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,
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).
In “The Indictments Against Advertising” by Courtland L. Bovee and William F. Arens, both authors of business and contemporary advertising textbooks, briefly discuss advertising’s effect on the consumer and shows the implications of businesses, in this case the fast-food industry, persuading people to “want what they don’t need” (Bovee 358). The advertising technique of persuasion leads to false impressions of a product, much like the advertisement claims of selling healthy fast food. With fast food ...
How many of us in our busy lives stop and really examine the countless advertisements placed in front of us? Being something available to all students for viewing, the communication employed by the advertisement is cunning and deceptive. The appeal to ethics in the Ben and Jerry's "brownies that do good" advertisement is simple tactic to distract the viewer. David Wall in "It Is and It Isn't" refers to this as a social assumption which builds off of cultural expectations. There are countless concealed messages and symbols within the Ben and Jerry's advertisement that contain these social assumptions and require closer examination of content.
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.
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.