How Advertising Is Not A Recent Human Discovery

Fast food advertisements can be found around the world, on newspapers, television, and even online. Children, teenagers, and parents have seen marketing focused on fast food. While adults may think little about such blatant advertising tactics that are solely designed to attract new customers, how are kids affected? People across the United States worry about the ever increasing obesity rates amongst children in recent years. A common explanation is the spike in popularity of fast food. Most kids and teenagers have eaten fast food at least once in their lifetime. But why has fast food gotten increasingly popular recently? Fast food has always been known to be very unhealthy, but kids still consume it anyway. The culprit: fast food advertising. In modern times, the majority of kids living in the United States have access to the internet or television, where they are easy targets for advertising. To prevent the nation from growing up obese, fast food companies should end all ad campaigns targeted towards children and focus advertising strictly on adults. These advertisements cause kids to consume fast food more often, to eat an unhealthy diet, and to grow up in a culture dependent on fast food.

Advertisements are everywhere. They are a major part of modern day society. Whether it be a television commercial, an internet banner, or a billboard, advertisements influence people of all ages, but they affect a certain age group much more than others. Children ranging from toddlers to teenagers are exposed to thousands upon thousands of advertisements each year. Some of these advertisements are damaging to children, while others are a positive influence. Advertisements can either be used as a tool or a weapon. Food advertisements and manipulation strategies are both positive and negative, and how companies use them decides whether or not marketing to children is ethical.

The author talks more on the problems on the fast food and blaming the fault of the problems caused by fast food to the government. Besides, the author states that “market research has found that children often recognize a brand logo before they can recognize their own name.” (Schlosser, p.22)I agree with what he said,the methods employed by the fast food companies to attract kids include targeting kids as young as possible, advertisement directing at kids with a specific goal, studying children’s fantasy, and working with media. These methods are very effective due

They see it; they want it. Advertising to children is turning a want into a responsive nag to a parent, like a reflex. Every media outlet advertises, and companies like popular fast food restaurants target children. In the process of fattening the children, will their reflexes get slower? At some point in every kid’s life, they see an advertisement for a food or toy they want. This want leads to nagging of the parent until they give in. Although it is highly effective and profitable, fast food companies should not be able to have aggressive advertisement campaigns targeting children because it corruptly brainwashes them and promotes unhealthy life choices.

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.

In the video, “The Myth of Choice: How Junk-Food Marketers Target Our Kids,” it talks about how “...a typical kid sees nearly 5,000 TV ads for food and drinks every year and almost all of them will be for products high in sugar, salt, and saturated fat…” in these ads, it shows how vibrant colors and fictional characters can catch the attention of kids. This makes it so that children want to purchase the product being sold. In addition,

Fast foods are high on starch, sugar, salts and fats, which are served on large quantities in a single serving. A kid could gain weight up to six pound per year just by eating fast foods. Fast foods are low in nutritional value. Most children are getting more of their food away from home. For example, McDonald, Carl’s Jr., Jack-in-the box, Burger King, are the most frequently places visit with children. The thing that makes this food bad is processed food. Children less than twelve can be attracted to fast/junk food advertisements will offer a toy or something to catch their attention. For example, McDonald’s happy meals offer the kid a toy. “The most frequently advertised foods were sugar-sweetened beverages, sweetened cereals, prepackaged snack foods, fast foods, and convenience meals” (Wallace). Just as Wallace explains, those advertisements use animated characters to catch kids’ attention. Hello kitty or “Cars”, or any character that is famous at the

The two biggest companies are ironically the two largest spenders for ads. Burger King and McDonalds spent a reported 800 billion dollars in the year 2009 (Burger Battles 4). Some of that money is spent in other ways rather than just commercials. Product placement is a large part of companies’ marketing strategy. The idea of giving away toys with the purchase of a meal has been extremely successful. Happy Meals have been favorites among children due to the toys placed within the bag. Winnie the Pooh, Finding Nemo, and Beanie Babies have all been used as characters in Happy Meals to help inflate sales (Ruskin 2). Children then consume the unhealthy food that comes along with their new trinket. However, companies have recently agreed to promote healthier choices in at least half of all their advertisements (Burger Battles 2).

Advertising is everywhere for almost everything. Fast food companies advertise food that causes obesity. Fast food companies make their products seem enjoyable and appealing to the eye. ““A child who loves our TV commercials,” Kroc later explained, “and brings her grandparents to a McDonalds gives us two more customers.”” (Schlosser&Wilson-P.45) This means that children convince their parents to take them to McDonalds. This might influence their grandparents to go as well which is more money for the fast food company. The more a person sees a commercial for a fast food product they are more likely to go. Over time the fast food will cause obesity. “Sam realized that he’d gained a lot of wright over the past year….Sam began to eat fast food three or four times a week.”(Schlosser&Wilson-P202-203) The toys encourage children that going to fast food

The fast food industry has discovered that young children have buying power. Armed with that information the fast food industry has directed their advertising towards children. They place ads where they know young children will see them. The fast food industry spends millions of dollars on television ads. These ads run during prime viewing times for children. They also make sure their products are strategically placed where children

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

Well, most of the fast food commercials are targeted towards younger viewers. Kids who watch television all the time, see these ads and is persuaded into asking their parents to take them to that particular restaurants. Not all fast food advertisements are bad, though, some can be helpful.

Advertising has always been an important part of our society. The history of advertising can be traced to pre-modern history when it served an important purpose by allowing sellers to effectively compete with other merchants for the attention of clients in Ancient Egypt. From 1704 when the first newspaper advertisement was announced, it gradually grows into a major force in American society based primarily on newspapers and magazines (Ad Age Advertising Century, 1999). It not only helps to raise the target demographics’ awareness of issues, but also educate consumers with the benefits of the product. However, advertising cannot target a particular person before the emerging of World Wide Web.

In our quickly growing society, full of capitalism, advertisements seem to have become the backdrop to our bustling lives. Though we seem to overlook their presence, throughout all American cities, Ads are what fill all the empty spaces, from store front windows, to big billboards in the skies. These brightly colored pictures, that flood our vision as we drive to work, or even stroll down the mall, have a more influential effect on our daily lives then we realize. A perfect example of this is with the food industry.

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