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. 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. Commercials make the viewer think about the product being advertised. Because of the amount of television children watch throughout the week, it allows the children to be exposed to the information over and over again. Per year, children are known to view thousands of fast food commercials. On a daily basis, a teen will usually view five advertisements and a child aged six to eleven will see around four advertisements (Burger Battles 4). Businesses use this strategy to “speak directly to children” (Ruskin 3). Although the big businesses in the fast ... ... middle of paper ... ... consideration, the most severe of all is the chance of death due to one of the diseases. Focusing on the well being of the customers should be the main focus of any major company, especially fast food companies. By reducing the amount of unhealthy choices for children and replacing them with nutritional foods, the nation’s youth will benefit. Works Cited “Burger Battles.” Weekly Reader. 6 Dec. 2010: 4. SIRS Discoverer. Web. 8 May 2011. Holguin, Jaime. “Fast Food Linked To Child Obesity.” Cbsnews.com. CBS News, 5 Jan. 2003. Web. 8 May 2011. Paul, Maya W. “Healthy Fast Foods.” Help Guide. Help Guide, 10 Sep. 2010. Web. 9 May 2011. Ruskin, Gary. “The Fast Food Trap: How Commercialism Creates Overweight Children.” Commercialalert.org. Commercial Alert, 31 Oct. 2003. Web. 8 May 2011. Zinczenko, David. Eat This Not That For Kids. New York: Rodale, 2008. Print.
In this paper, it will focus on how junk food marketing impacts childhood obesity. Childhood obesity continues to be on the rise from junk food marketing because of the schools food policies and vending machines, increased junk food available at supermarkets and advertisements in social media.
The post is suitable to read for anyone who would like to find facts about the relation of fast foods to the high rates of obesity in the states. The audience should expect the author to clearly state out point why fast food is not the primary cause of obesity. The author should also clearly state reason why there has been an increase in obesity levels. This should help the reader in clarifying that fast food is not the primary cause. The purpose of this text is to ensure that the reader understands the relation to fast food and obesity levels. I believe that in many ways, the author can be referred to as a defender of fast food in the blame for causing obesity.
Looking around, candy, soda water and junk food are in the hands of fellow classmates. Simply walking down the street countless unhealthy food advertisement are seen and influence our choices as they are intended to do. In America, one in three children, about 22 million children, are obese or overweight, and that number is only rising. The government must aid in the fight against childhood obesity and reform the influence of unhealthy food in children’s lives, increase the availability of beneficial foods, mandate physical education, and inform our children of healthy habits.
Ruskin, Gary. "The Fast Food Trap." Mothering No. 121. Nov./Dec. 2003: 34-44. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 15 Jan. 2014.
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 Myth of Choice: How Junk-Food Marketers Target Our Kids says that, “1 in 3 children eat fast food every day”. As what Anna Lappé said, “What we eat and drink is literally a life and death matter for America’s children” and this is very crucial. In addition, Marketing to kids gets more savvy with new technologies reports that “We have a generation of children that is the first to have a life expectancy less than its parents”. This reveals that the harmful health problems that are brought by advertising are making our youth possibly not live as long as they would like to. Furthermore, our children's lives are constantly being threatened by advertisers and it's hugely impacting
Fast food advertising has caused childhood obesity by targeting children. Richard Feloni argues that "American children see over a thousand fast food commercials on television every year" (parag.1). He further explains how fast food restaurants like McDonalds targets mainly children by having hundreds of advertisements mainly targeting children every year. Children convince their parents to take them to the places advertised, the parents take them to keep their children happy. The children end up enjoying these unhealthy foods causing health issues because these additives causes obesity, diabetes and even brain damage. Amy M. Bernhardt emphasizes that 79% of 25,000 fast food advertisements aired on just four channel...
Eating fast food is all fun and games until someone tries to look down at their own feet and can hardly look over their stomach, let alone bend their triple chin. It seems that too many people in the United States are being served platters of obesity; From McDonald’s to Chipotle, young adults are becoming too lazy or even too busy to make their own food at home, which has gradually caused America's obesity rate to double over the past forty years. It’s even harder to make healthy choices when there’s a fast food restaurant planted on almost every street corner of America and claims that their food is of nutritional value. Not only that, fast food companies often employ different marketing strategies to attract a wide variety of customers, ranging from small children to adults.
There are a massive number of overweight children in the world today, and the waistlines of children are continuing to grow at disturbing rates, which is threatening and putting their lives in danger's way. The growing rate of childhood obesity has consumers and health advocates urging the United States government to investigate the relationship between childhood obesity and marketing. Transiri states, in Don’t Blame the Youth, “As youngsters get fatter, parents, public health organizations and government officials continue to question the impact of food-marketing practices” (Casison-Tansiri). Childhood obesity rates are increasing in the United States because the advertising industry is targeting our children with unhealthy eating habits. These are harsh statements, and may be offending to some, but the obesity rate in children should be just as offensive, and society as a whole needs to be involved to make a difference to prevent childhood obesity.
It is clear that the fast food industry has changed the American culture and society, and will continue to at a rapid pace. The article Obesity in America and its children affecting the lives of millions by Becky Sorenson further proves my claim fast food is becoming a staple in the American culture. With the popularity continuing to increase, it’s having a negative impact on Americans’ and America's health, and if this increase in popularity continues, then obesity will be even more of a serious problem.
Childhood obesity is a big problem and is highly talked about in today 's society. Some researchers connect childhood obesity to what the children in our schools eat at lunch. According to “Children and Fast Food”, more than one-third of American children and adolescents ate some form of fast food every day in the mid-2010s (n.pag). Childhood obesity has doubled from what it use to be three decades ago and has been getting worse every year. Every generation of kids has liked junk food, however, the kids in the current generation are eating it more often at school and at home. They rarely eat anything else in the course of a day (Shapiro) because they are exposed to junk food everywhere they go. Pizza Hut, McDonald 's,
In the modern day of America a new pandemic is on the rise. Childhood obesity has become a serious problem for the youth of America. The rise of obesity in young children is increasing at a frightening rate! As reported in 2014, 1 out of every 3 child is either overweight or dangerously obese (Kids Health). Many people put the blame on the child’s parent’s dietary decisions. Not having enough education on whether a salad with grilled chicken is a better choice to feed kids than a deep fried “chicken nugget”. A lot of anti-fast food organizations point their finger toward fast food companies such as McDonalds who sell “healthy” kid meals to little kids. The media plays a huge role in contributing to the problem by advertising such meals to
From the day we were born into this world, we have learned to seek food to help fuel our bodies. Deciding on what to eat is just one of the many choices we make every day, but what types of factors influence children in their food choices and preferences? This paper will analyze the prospect of food related advertisements and its influences on the food choices children make and the next steps we can take to approach this issue. Internet and television programming displaying food advertisements negatively affects children’s food choices, as it targets their psychological vulnerability, poor lifestyle and unhealthy food choices represented in advertisements have the ability to cause early onsets of chronic diseases and
Children watch an average of 2 hours and 17 minutes of television each day, 16 hours each week, and are exposed to 25,600 advertisements a year, with 22% of these advertisements being for food (Holt et al. 2007)(Rose, Merchant, Bakir 76). The majority of children aged between five and eight have some understanding of TV advertising, they are capable of differentiating programs and commercials especially if this understanding is measured by non-verbal rather than verbal measurement. Advertisers create ways to invade the minds of people everyday. Products and services surround our everyday lives and most influence children. Mottos, catchy phrases, and animated figures are just a few of the ways advertisers target the younger generation. Advertisers are influencing their wants and needs, as well as what’s in style and what is not. The industry gets exactly what they want, dedicated customers for life. Advertising is creating issues for children and affecting their lives. They understand TV advertisements at a young age, which can affect their thought and purchasing processes and the fast food industry is a leader in advertising and leading to childhood obesity.
...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.