Fast-Food Advertising Causes Obesity Essay

Fast food has a harmful effect on society because it can cause obesity. The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry believes obesity “Overweight children are much more likely to become overweight adults unless they adopt and maintain healthier patterns of eating and exercise.” (parag. 1).The causing and treating of obesity is complex but it is the most recognizable disease. Consistently eating fast food and a poor can lead to obesity in anyone. The risks of obesity include an increased risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, fast food “Studies have shown that over the past four decades, consumption of food eaten away from home has also risen alarmingly” (parag. 8). This means that fast food is high in fat, sugar, salt, carbs, calories, saturated and trans fats. This type of eating leads to a higher body mass index or gained weight. Children and adolescents are at a

Did you know that “every day 1 in 4 Americans visit a fast food restaurant? If that’s not alarming to you, then consider this, left unabated, obesity will surpass smoking as the leading cause of preventable death in America.” (Clark, Charles) Fast food has become a part of American culture. With the way the world is today who wouldn’t want to eat somewhere that can have you in and out in five minutes for fewer than five dollars? It has been made very clear that Americans love to eat as we rank number one most years as the world’s most obese nation, but it’s not just America. In his documentary, Morgan Spurlock notes that, “Popular fast food chains like McDonalds, now operate in more than 126 countries in six continents having more than 31,000 restaurants globally.” (Spurlock 2004) The most alarming part about all of these statistics is the groups they most affect. The catchy advertisements and addictive qualities of the food is what has everyone coming back for more. Fast food companies advertisements targeting the young and lower classes are the cause for the obesity epidemic in America.

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.

In today’s society, the media, in many ways control the average consumer’s way of thinking. Bright billboards, catchy radio jingles, colorful magazine ads, and eye catching T.V ads play a major role in obesity in the United States. The one dollar double cheeseburger, offered by Burger King and McDonalds is a prime example. Burger King offers more meat with a better taste, and the advertisements are very colorful. Media tends to influence un-natural way of thinking among the average consumer. These ads usually misrepresent images of their target audience, using physically fit looking people in the fast food ads. A large number of these advertisements place a great deal of attention on the foods taste, rather than its nutritional value. This causes the consumer to overlook the risk and pay more attention to the taste and convenience. Well designed fast food media campaigns play a major role in the unnatural thinking that leads to obesity in the United States.

The food industry has mastered the delicate art of trickery over many years and has been able to convince consumers to buy their products, thinking they are healthy, when in reality they are contributing immensely to the obesity epidemic in America. Food corporations have developed a marketing strategy where they target juvenile audiences with their products. The companies do this by having advertisements on children's television programs encouraging children to buy their processed, high-sugar food products. Companies get kids’ attention by including beloved children's figures with their commercials, thus piquing their interest. Children view their favorite characters on television programs and ask their parents or guardians to purchase the items for them and the parents, remaining blissfully unaware that they are relinquishing their child's health to mass food corporations, concede and buy the food, which causes their child to become unhealthy and eventually obese. Another way food companies market their products is by embedding their advertisements with words like “Cheap, easy, fast”, which appeals to low income families looking for a inexpensive meal, or families on the go that need to quickly get a bite to eat. Due to the fact that unhealthy fast food choices are often the easiest method for gaining a quick meal, more and more families are

Pollution could be a reason. Pollution in the city can influence our hormones, which can dominate our weight and health(facts). If a adolescent’s family has a history of obesity, a child has a four out of five chance of gaining a disproportionate amount of weight as well due to heredity (facts). Obese adolescents, ranging from ages 13-25, may be more responsive to television fast-food advertisements than people who are not overweight or obese. Research professionals are not certain which part of the process happens in the beginning, rapidly absorbing television fast-food advertisements becoming obese (facts). Approximately 50% of all American broadcasting aimed towards children and adolescents is revolved around food (facts). Foods high in fat and sugar can stimulate the mind’s pleasure structure, which can overwhelm the mind’s capability to notify a person to cease consuming of food and drinks (facts). Americans eat three to four times the recommended amount of fat for each day(facts). French fried potatoes are the most commonly eaten “vegetable” in fast-food drive-ins in the United States

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

Food companies make millions just from advertising junk food to kids. Food companies advertise using very known cartoon characters to appeal to kids that contain high-sugar levels that can cause many different disorders that can affect them in a server way. Kids tend to beg their parents for junk food and other types of foods just for seeing that they would receive a toy. In the article “10 Things the Food industry Doesn’t Want You to Know” states “On TV alone, the average child sees about 5,500 food commercials a year.” With these advertisements, kids can get the idea of going to eat in places that have unhealthy food. Advertisement like these can cause children to view fast food as something they can be constantly eating without having any problems.

One of today’s major problems is the prominence of obesity in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have given the definition of a body mass index of 30.0 or higher as being obese. When analyzing this data, one in three U.S. citizens is obese and one in twenty are considered extremely obese. The Obesity Action Coalition has also announced that between the 1970s and today, fast food restaurants have double at the same rate as obese Americans. (Carey) While this is not all the fault of the restaurant, there is a correlation between cheap fast food with no nutrition and obesity. With this data, you’d think that steps would be taken to protect our youth but instead, fast food restaurants now tend to pop-up around schools and low-income neighborhoods. At the same time, fast food companies have spent about $4 billion in a year to advertise with a target on children ages six to eleven. (Fast

Americans have always had the mentality that bigger is better. Bigger cars, bigger houses, and bigger salaries are just a few ways that Americans supersize their lives. But, there is one other thing that has been growing in American households: their weight. Portion sizes are out of control, video games always beat a playground, and everything is motorized. This is the way that American children are growing up, and out. But in a society that is so obsessed with looking good and thus, thin, how are these children getting so large? Advertisements. The news has been attacking advertisements aimed at children, and rightfully so, they are showing unhealthy lifestyles and eating habits in a socially acceptable way. Children watch cartoons.

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

The fast food industry promotes childhood obesity by manipulating the young mind, putting them at risk for health complications such as hypertension and diabetes. The super-sizing of America is been a frequently talked about subject lately. Especially since it is seem to have negative effects on the health of children and adults alike through massive consumption of fast food. Health providers and other authority figures are now concerned about children’s obesity rates shown during the past 3-4 decades. They have now drawn a close connection between fast food and obesity and identified a childhood obesity epidemic with increased negative health factors. According to the American journal of public health, 2005 September issue, fast food

There are some specific and real problems that advertising can cause upon children (William A. Ramsey). Fast-food restaurant advertising it’s influencing our children to be obese. Childhood obesity around the world is causing worries, especially detrimental as its effect carries on into parenthood. The ratio of children 's who are overweight has approximately tripled in the same period, reaching fourteen percent (Center for disease control

Food advertisements, if focused at the right people and in the right places, are a complete success. These features, some of which are commercials, seduce society into buying food that we necessarily do not need. Many advertisement companies, especially those about food, are directed to children because they know that if you grab the kids you have their parents. While brands are using fun cartoons like “Trix Rabbit” and “Toucan Sam” (Green, 2007, p. 49) supermarkets are taking these items and placing them right in front of the children, at their level, advertising the “Fun foods” (Elliot, 2008, p. 259-273). They do this so the kids will use their, “pester power” (Scholsser, n.d., p. 2) to get what they want. A series of studies have been performed on children and television advertisements. An article states, “These studies have generally linked children's television viewing to negative health effects” (Korr, 2008, p. 451). Amongst these negative effects is a higher level of childhood obesity (p. 451). Similarly, in another study performed by a group of researchers, kids were asked to explain the television commercials that they remembered the best. The answers given were then compared with their diets. Interestingly, the items those children remembered best, chips, sweets, and sodas were a huge part of what they ate (Hitching & Moynihan, 1998, p. 511-517). However, some authors argue that television producer’s, even though their

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