Can Cinderella And Elsa Convince Children To Eat Vegetables?

Obesity has become increasingly more prominent in American society. It is also a major health issue affecting many adults and children in the US every year. In his article "Don't Blame the Eater," David Zinczenko sympathizes with children who are suing McDonald’s making them fat. In his own experience as a “latchkey kid”, he knows how easily fast food makes teenagers put on weight with a steady diet of fast food meals. Zinczenko argues that both lack of fast food alternative companies and lack of providing nutrition information contribute to childhood obesity.

One of the most controversial issues today is the question of how to address childhood obesity. Because of the large proportion of meals that children, particularly low-income children, consume in schools, cafeteria food has been targeted by dietary reformers as in need of a major overhaul. However, while many different types of new school menus have been proposed, the extent to which healthier foods can be offered remains controversial. Opponents to reform state that children will not eat healthier lunches, and that changing the food that children eat will have minimal impact, since the children will either bring food from home or eat food at home that is more 'kid friendly.'

People must make a living, right? The food corporations are making their living the same as any other corporation does. All successful companies modify their products and services to fit what the consumer wants. In this case, that means that the food companies must figure out what most people like and then they modify their products to those qualifications. Other than the selling of products and services, it all depends on the consumer. The consumer should be able to limit his or herself. At a young age, it’s drilled into our heads that all things are okay in portions, hence the reason we are told to limit our kid's time on electronics. The same goes for eating the products sold by these large junk food corporations. A person must eat out of necessity, but large junk food corporations do not provide the nutrition needed to keep us healthy, which should deter us away from these types of foods. All in all, this makes the growing obesity problem the

I understand a working parent has barely enough time to watch over every little detail in the kids life, but an effort should be made not only by the parent, but also by the fast-foods to take at least some of the responsibility for making schoolchildren, and not to mention Americans in general, overweight. Advertisement towards children should be to promote healthy eating, which it currently is, however not so much back in 2003 where, according to David Barboza's article “If You Pitch It, They Will Eat”, “Product tie-ins are everywhere.” This holds true to this day, McDonalds has toys with their happy meals from two popular kids shows. Power Rangers and My Little Pony, which appeal to young boys and girls who know of or watch the show. It is a marketing strategy, the kids see the toys and watch the show, which in turn makes them want the toys, making them want to watch the shows. Continuing in an endless loop that only benefits the shows and most of all the fast-food companies like McDonalds.

According to the article, “If You Pitch It, They Will Eat It,” by David Barboza, toys are are used to market fast food, in such ways as food companies using strategic placing of popular characters to lure in children. Barboza states, “...call it a blitzkrieg that perverts children's eating habits and sets them on a path to obesity.” What the author is saying is that these companies use toys in marketing to exploit children's interests just to make some money. Children do not know any better when it comes to healthy eating, so when they see their favorite characters like Spongebob or Barbie in a Happy Meal or on candy, they will instantly want the product. Sales go up when children see popular toys used in marketing, so food companies make

Because of parents using food as a reward, many children learn that being good means eating unhealthy. Combined with the advertising techniques used by the fast food industry, children begin to make a correlation between fast food and a reward. Ellen Gustafson further confirms that fast food contains “more refined grains, fats and oils and sugars than the 1980’s.” All of these components of fast food make it appealing to children. Furthermore, many parents do not have time to make healthy meals for their children because of our fast-paced society. As David Zinczenko relates in Don’t Blame the Eater, “lunch and dinner, for me, was a daily choice between McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken or Pizza Hut. Then, as now, these were the only available options for an American kid to get an affordable meal.” This is not a rare situation. Many parents work long hours and therefore encourage their kids to eat fast food instead of taking the time to teach healthy habits. This has the ripple effect of overeating and lack of exercise. Without exercise, many kids gain weight, become obese or are at risk for diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and asthma. (Childhood Obesity) Today, type 2 diabetes exists in 30% of childhood obesity. (Zinczenko 154) Gustafson further states in her presentation “1/3 of American children are overweight and obese.” When a child has obesity, their ability to participate in everyday activities like sports and play is inhibited, which means

This article shows that fast food today is convenient because people have a lot of work to do in a very short time, so so thinking about driving through the fast food restaurant is easier and better than cooking. Therefore, one thing parents don't know is that fats, sugars, and salts are engaging their children primordial tastes. The most widely recognized disease that impacts children is obesity. Studies show that 15-20% of children aged 12-18 are overweight. In addition, obese children can affect emotional and

In this video of TEDx, Anna Lappe, an author, explains how the food industries uses different marketing tactics to target children. Lappe’s main claim in this video is to tell food industries to leave the parenting to parents, and gives many reasons as to why. One of them is that the food industries are now using cartoon characters on their food such as Dora, Shrek, and many others in order to appeal to kids. By doing so, food industries have now created a brand loyalty among children, meaning that now kids will only buy the food just because of the cartoon character on the box cover, that brand loyalty may last years. In other words, kids are being brainwashed by the food industries. Another reason as to why the parenting should be left for

Fast-food industries may try to “target children in their ads”, but it ultimately comes down to the adults-the parents- choosing to dine at these places and pork up their kids on the high-sugar sodas, salty French fries, and greasy burgers. If they would just take the time to look out the window, they would see the healthy alternatives to fast-food, and how the alternatives are literally right in front of

Political activist Yves Engler’s article “Obesity: Much of the Responsibility Lies with Corporations,” blames corporate capitalism for the obesity of children. Engler urges the government to put tighter limits on fast-food marketing not allowing them to reach the youth of America. Also Engler proposes that availability of junk food in the school system should decrease. Engler writes about how the government could help the obesity rate in children by creating more parks and funding physical education programs in public schools. Engler and Zinczenko both talk about the government’s ability to intervene in the fast-food industry, and both offer valid solutions. Engler talks about the

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.

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.

Oliver, in his Ted Talk, discusses three major culprits for child obesity, which are fast food companies/supermarkets, food labels and schools. Oliver describes how thirty years ago, supermarkets were much more locally owned, with fresh foods, whereas nowadays supermarkets are owned by corporate america, stocking the shelves with highly processed foods, that are extremely high in sugar and fats. School breakfast and lunch is a huge staple in children’s nutrition in the United States, as this accounts for two/thirds of millions of children’s daily meals. Oliver rants that the food school’s provide is filled with a tremendous amount of additives, as well as being highly processed, with a lack of fresh vegetables and nutritious foods. (Oliver, J., 2010)

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.

In today’s society, the food and beverage industry is faced with an ongoing ethical dilemma because they are far more concerned with making money than providing a good, safe, and healthy product for consumers. The biggest victims in this unethical marketing scheme are children. Children are the least informed and most influenced of all potential consumers (5). Although children usually don’t directly purchase these products themselves, their desires strongly influence their parent’s decision on what to buy and what the child will eat. Most products geared towards children are unhealthy, processed foods that are high in sugars and low in nutritional content (6). This has led to a rise in childhood