Childhood Obesity and Fast Food Essay examples

In the past three decades, rates of childhood obesity have increased precipitously. Between the years and 1980 and 2000, the prevalence of obesity has increased from 6.5% to 19.6% among 6 to 11 year old children and 5.0% to 18.1% among 12 to 19 year old adolescents x(National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2010). This condition is accompanied by many physical and psychological consequences for these children. There are two common postions in the debate about the causes of this condition. One belief of the cause of childhood obesity is that it is a question of “personal responsibility” or in the case of children, of “parental responsibility.” That is, increasing rates of obesity are due to

Do you get enough exercise? Are you sure about that? Or how about this, are you overweight, do you even know? Today’s adolescents don’t. In fact today’s adolescents face serious risk from their lack of activity. Today’s children are obese because they have developed some very bad habits related to healthy living and as result can suffer serious physical and psychological damage.

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.

“I’m Lovin’ It.” This slogan has become one of the most recognized in both the United States and in the world. Our nation has slowly gravitated towards fast food, allowing for a new industry to explode and expand over the past few decades. This monumental fast food industry has become a symbol of America and our diets. Fast food is convenient, quick, and cheap, requiring hardly any effort. It is the perfect formula for our fast-paced nation and suffering economy. The problem is shown through our sky-high rate of obesity. Though fast food has some short-term benefits like saving time and a few dollars, it has severe physical, mental and financial consequences for children, showing that the negatives of consuming fast food outweigh the

An argument for fast food companies may be that in recent years they have started offering healthier options. Some menus now offer milk as a beverage and apples as a food. While these are healthier choices, there is still very few of these options as opposed to the unhealthy ones. Not to mention in advertisements the apples are always shown with a sugar filled dipping sauce. The fact that these companies still have mostly unhealthy choices, they should not target children in their advertisement. It is obvious that many factors play into the epidemic of childhood obesity. Factors that play into childhood obesity are things such as family income levels and restaurants that are in close proximity. Let me pose this question, what food places are the cheapest and have locations on almost every street corner? Yes, that is correct, fast food. When they already have those factors in their favor, these advertisements just seal the deal for them.

Children think that because their favorite character is eating McDonalds, then it is okay for them to eat McDonalds as well. Unfortunately, there are many other forms of marketing out there. For example, there is product placement, viral marketing, and sponsorships (Frechette 2015). Good marketing can include anything that has to do with fruits, vegetables, or being active. Unfortunately, you don’t see much of that on television. If Americans can change how they market to children and how they market food choices, then obesity can be managed better and children can live a longer life without the fear of diseases.

This article incorporates essential realities about the fast food industry. Likewise, has late news and moves made by well known fast food organizations. The site likewise has tabs that clarify the wagers and most noticeably worst kid’s meals and after that another tab that includes the calories in kid’s meals. The site additionally discusses the different advertising to children and adolescents that the fast food industry does. Most of the data

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

It’s a scary feeling when climbing a simple flight of stairs only to reach the top and be completely out of breath. In America today this is the reality that many children face. Obesity has become an epidemic in our world, it has many contributing factors, affects learning abilities but there are preventive methods for it. Although little is being done about obesity, it's affecting the lives of many but mostly children and by a multitude of different factors.

Forty years ago in America childhood obesity was rarely a topic of conversation. A survey done in the early 1970s showed that 6.1% of children between the ages 12 and 19 were overweight. Eight years later the same survey was done and 17.4% were considered overweight (Iannelli). “Childhood obesity epidemic in America is now a confirmed fact since the number of overweight or obese children has more than tripled during the last 30 years” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). “Over the last 20 years, the prevalence of obesity in children aged 6 to 11 years has tripled from 6.5% to 19.6%” (Childhood Obesity Epidemic). As a nation statistics should be alarming. Why are American children today so obese?

There was a time when chubby children were considered cute. It was assumed that their baby fat would melt away and a healthy adult would emerge. We now know that childhood obesity can be very harmful for our nations children. Not only can obesity cause health problems but also psychological problems. In observing the causes of childhood obesity, hopefully we can slow down the epidemic.

As of now in the United States there are 22 fast food franchises. McDonalds was the first franchise to open in 1940 and since then they have been the leading and most successful franchise in America (“The Raw Prawn” n.p.). Other franchises include: Burger King, KFC, Wendy’s, Arby’s, and Taco Bell. Each of which target young students and children. Most of them have a value menu where items to purchase are cheap and tasty but very unhealthy. Some fast food restaurants provide a toy for children with their meal which attract them to come again and again ( “Eating Yourself to Death” n.p.). In addition, some restaurants contain an indoor play ground which attracts small children even more. The fast food industry mainly brings customers for their tasty food and simple convenience, they attach a drive thru to their building making it faster for customers to purchase and collect their food which is also less time consuming. Recently in the past few years, fast food franchises have begun to change their restaurant and attempt to become healthier as a whole, in some fast food restaurants they have a nutritional menu to choose from which generally contain healthier food compared to the regular menu (“The Raw Prawn” n.p.).

Fast food advertisement agencies take advantage of the ignorance of children to scam them into wanting unhealthy meals. Each year, the fast food industry spends over $3 million of advertising targeted towards children. Half of television advertisement is used during children’s shows and with cartoons. Out of all the factors

Childhood obesity may not seem like a serious problem, but it is a serious medical condition that can have major effects on a child. Although genetics play a role in determining a child’s weight, it is usually due to a child’s amount of exercise and the consumption of healthy meals. Doctors are concerned with the issue, as we all should be, and they are creating new programs that are geared toward helping children learn how to follow a healthier lifestyle. There are some promising outlooks with these programs, and most doctors agree that parents should help their children create a more active and healthy lifestyle. They also agree that the government should provide more attention to the issue as well. Since the growing problem of childhood

The commercials feature animated characters selling fast food kid meals. Children relate with the cartoon characters and want to eat the foods that are being promoted. Children receive the message that fast food is good for them, and do not understand that eating too much fast food can be unhealthy for them. Unfortunately the message from this type of advertising is geared toward the child thinking I need to have the fast food. This is a bad message to leave in children?s minds, because it can also cause problems with their health. The obesity rate in young children has risen drastically over the last twenty years. Health reports have attributed this to the continuing increase in the amount of fast food children are consuming. Television commercials for fast food are on every channel, and the number of channels has risen over the last twenty years. Children who watch television are exposed to a non-stop borage of commercials. This continual exposure promotes a cycle of the child always wanting to go to the fast food restaurants. Parents also are affected by the commercials. Their children want to eat fast food, and the fast food is very convenient for busy families. It is much easier to go through a drive-thru and order the food, then to cook the meal at home. This can be a harmful pattern for the family to establish. Convenience over a more healthy home cooked meal adds to the childhood obesity