Avertisements Should Be Banned In America

encourage children into healthy food habits, but we don’t always take these precautions to action.

Parents continuously make choices for their children. Every day, they decide what the child will wear, what shows they watch, what time they go to bed, what they will eat, and so much more. When grocery shopping in the store, parents have to make conscious purchases in order to maximize their budget (Krukowski, West, Harvey-Berino, & Prewitt, 2010). These decisions will influence whether the family can afford a two-dollar box of Macaroni and Cheese, opposed to fifteen-dollars’ worth of items to create a salad. How will these decisions affect childhood obesity? The answer is simple; it will affect a child. Young children and even adults need a mixture of fruits, vegetables, protein, grains, and dairy on every plate in order to consume a healthy diet (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 2017).

Commercials through television and radio aimed towards children are ethical because it helps build healthy ideals. Through commercials, children can see that doing certain things are good for you! They can see that it is what they should do. “Advertising and marketing techniques could encourage children to eat

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in America. "the percentage of obese children doubling from 6.5% in 1980, to 17.0% in 2006. Weight, nutrition, and physical activity are the main components to a child’s overall health.”(1) “When parents become too busy to cook meals in their homes, children learn poor eating habits and develop into unhealthy eaters.”(1) They will take what they learned at home and apply it to anywhere else that they eat. For example a child that drinks milk at dinner and sits with their family at dinner when asked what they want to drink when they are at a friend’s home will ask for milk because the child would associate milk with dinner. Children cannot make healthy choices of their own they need to be guided so

have said that it is having a negative influence on our children and should be banned

Obesity has been a huge epidemic for a while now, more than two-thirds (68.8 percent) of adults are overweight or obese. In the article “Food for Thought”, written by Jennifer Grossman, projects that by bringing back home economics class will be a good result to fight off obesity. Grossman proposes that young adults who take home economics class will have a better perspective of what kind of food they should eat and not eat. She believes that it will educate young adults to “think, make, fix, and generally fend for themselves.”. I agree with Grossman’s point about how home economics class is a good way to fight and make our youth aware of obesity. I feel that Society needs to be educated of the types of food, the amount, and the effects of food they are consuming not just children. Grossman’s article is approaching children, opposing her approach I strongly feel it’s necessary to educate the parents since children are generally not paying nor are they preparing for the food they consume, as well as educating the children how to maintain a physical balance to burn off what they eat.

To begin, a child’s brain is has not yet developed enough to make their own conscious decisions. For large companies or organizations, “Children are easy prey for advertisers” (Source C), rather than adults. So, in theory, a company should amend its advertising to a more beneficial system for the community. As David Benady stated, “ Advertising and marketing could encourage children to eat healthily, participate in sports and read books” (Source B), which is entirely true. With the combination of children's naiveness and companies marketing techniques, a child could easily be sucked into eating healthy rather

Obesity has become an increasing issue in the United States and all around the world. The study that I read about analyzed data from 68.5 million persons to assess the trends in the prevalence of overweight and obesity among children and adults between 1980 and 2015 (The GBD 2015 Obesity Collaborators. 2017.). Children learn lifestyle choices from the adults that are around them. We, as adults, influence children on a variety of things, such as; eating or sleep patterns, exercise, or how we act towards situations or people. It is important to set a good example for the younger generations so that we can thrive in the future.

“Normal” people eat unhealthy snacks “five times an hour,” but what about healthy children? (Source D.) There are so many more children who not only eat healthy, but exercise and stay in shape in order to live a healthy lifestyle. What if marketers focused on the positive actions that children take to maintain a healthy lifestyle rather than focusing on what “normal” people do? Positive marketing has already influenced children’s TV channel Nickelodeon which promotes fresh fruits and vegetables” on their stations and mass markets Harry Potter books which are “credited with encouraging children to read” (Source B).

banned everywhere in the world, because it is a huge danger to our health as well as to our

The age old saying, “You are what you eat” still rings true today. Fresh fruit and vegetables have been replaced by french-fries and hamburgers. Children today do not know how to eat healthy. We, as a nation, spend hours and hours bombarding children with fast food commercials, sugary cereal commercials and cavity causing drink commercials. We than spend a fraction of that time telling kids these things are healthy only in moderation.

On April 28, 2011, Sen. Sam Brownback and Sen. Tom Harkin, Congress directed the Federal Trade Commission, together with the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to establish and Interagency Working Group.(Source E) Since obesity is a disease that can harm anyone, it has become a problem that many agencies have tried to control. Creating the Interagency Working Group has led to proposing healthy eating and nutritional marketing principles that has been aimed for children. By avoiding fatty and junk food while young, it can prevent obesity which is the goal of promoting positive marketing amongst children from 2-17 years old. By living a wholesome life with a healthy eating chart, you won’t only prevent obesity, but many other diseases that can damage you later on in life.

The fast-paced lifestyle of Americans today results in unhealthy frozen T.V. dinners and take-out meals. In present day society, the role of woman and men are virtually equal. With this making both the mother and father of families busy, there is little time for home cooked meals. A hardy breakfast is replaced with sugary pop-tarts, hand packed lunches is replaced with money for fast food, and frozen T.V. trays take the place of a healthy dinner. These foods may all taste good, but they are not healthy. By giving children lunch money, the children are having the choice to buy whatever foods they please. It could be easily assumed that a child would choose a candy bar, chips, and a soda over a school lunch. Again, the children are not the only ones to be blamed here. The parents need to take time to guide their children towards what food is healthy and what food is unhealthy. By taking a little more time out of the day and making healthier food choices, the rate of childhood obesity could slow down, if not stop altogether.

There is presently much controversy regarding the idea of unhealthy foods and how companies shamelessly market these products to children. Individuals in the food and beverage industry constantly promote the belief that they are actively involved in providing society with important information concerning what is healthy and what is not. Moreover, most promote their products as having no negative effects on individuals who consume them, as doing otherwise would surely reflect badly on their businesses. It is generally known that children are vulnerable because they have very little experience in filtering information and food companies take advantage of this by introducing diverse methods to promote their products even with the fact that it is likely for children to get sick as a consequence.

Also, any families spend their time together by eating meals while watching television, which can cause children to overeat (Denney-Wilson). Often partnered with fast food, soft drinks have risen to popularity. Many parents are unaware that one 12 ounce can of soda is filled with 10 teaspoons of sugar. Just one additional serving of soda increases a child’s odds of obesity by 60% (“1 Can of…”). If parents are made aware of what they are feeding their children, it might help reduce the percentage of obese children in the United States. Although most families would react to obesity by trying to feed their children healthier meals, some lower-income families are unable to afford the best quality food for their families. One study showed that children from households that are experiencing financial insecurity are more prone to health issues than those who are not experiencing these same issues (Yoo). The government should help these lower-income families by providing them with monetary support to purchase healthy food. Not only will the incorporation of a healthy diet help children overcome their weight problems, it can have an added benefit of helping them academically. Researchers have found that children who eat healthy meals will report better scores on standardized tests (Williams). By changing the diet of their children, parents can help their children to overcome their weight problems.