Marketing Food To Children Essay

Foods high in total calories, sugars, salt, and fat and low in nutrients are highly advertised and marketed through media targeted to children and adolescents, while advertising for healthier foods is almost nonexistent in comparison.

Eating a well balanced meal is crucial for someone in their early childhood stage. During this time period, between the ages of two and six, a well-nourished child can grow up to three inches and gain up to four and a half pounds per year (Berger, 2010). Children at this age also need fewer calories per pound of body weight than infants do. Since children need less food than they did before and many do not diminish the intake of their food consumed, obesity becomes a problem. The article “Child and adolescent obesity: a part of a bigger picture” states, “The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity has risen substantially worldwide in less than one generation” (Lobstein, 2015). Obesity is a main factor that is present and can lead to other diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. The article also states that, “The food industry has a special interest in targeting children. Not only can the companies influence children’s immediate dietary preferences, but they can also benefit from building taste preferences and brand loyalty early in life, which last into adulthood” (Lobstein, 2015). Once children are hooked on the foods they eat during their childhood, they tend to follow those habits as they grow up. Children in low-income families are vulnerable to obesity because they rely on cheap fast food.

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.

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

These corporations know that we have long work hours, chronic stress, and lack of sleep, making us prone to put on excessive weight. They increase portion sizes, create more opportunities for snack times, for example vending machines in schools and add ingredients to foods that make you want to eat more. Examples of common ingredients in foods and drinks that can cause you to want to eat more are: sugar, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, aspartame and refined mineral-depleted salt(“Food Industry and Obesity”). Because of this knowledge factory owners know exactly what to do to get us to buy their products, therefore making us vulnerable to excessive weight gain.Not only do food companies target adult, but also children. Bill Whitaker, a CBS News correspondent conducted a similar study of TV ads on kids. The results showed that American children are bombarded with commercials for unhealthy foods that contain a lot of salt, fat, and sugars.Children are an easy target for the food industry. Young and impressionable, children are eager to eat whatever looks and tastes good.(Voiland and Haupt). The food industry is now capable of influencing the youth of America, making it easier to raise the rate of being overweight and or obese. Mcdonald's being the largest fast food industry has found ways to attract children. A cheeseburger Happy Meal has 520 calories, 20 grams of total fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 50

Schools no longer cook meals, but rather reheat meals given to the school through the government. Sodexo representative Barbara Brown in one school says, “Part of our position is that we’re hoping that through nutrition education, the students will learn to make the right food choice,” yet she represents schools that give snack bars, Gatorade, and pizza as school lunches (Spurlock). McDonald’s especially caters towards young children. According to Spurlock’s Supersize Me, a study showed that children predisposed to the good feelings of cigarettes, without knowing what they are, have a higher tendency to smoke by the time they are of legal age. This theory can be applied to McDonald’s; children raised with McDonald’s Playplace, Happy Meals, kid’s toys, and french fries are more likely to grow up to go to McDonald’s more frequently than those who do not (Spurlock). McDonald’s catering to children is a good business move for them because it appeals to the parents that they care, and at the same time expose the children to their food, thus raising business and potential customers in the long run. “The most heavily advertised foods are consumed the most,” (Spurlock). In 2001, McDonald’s spent 1.2 billion dollars on direct advertisements. The children who have dinner in front of the television are raised by the advertisements and cartoons featuring

Our society is seeing the alarming effects of it’s choices and our kids are quickly adapting to this unhealthy way of life. The more convenient our food becomes, the higher the content of sodium, fat, carbohydrates, hydrogenated oils, preservatives and processed ingredients. This is where the trouble begins.

In Zinczenco’s view “I'd say the industry is vulnerable. Fast-food companies are marketing to children a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels. They would do well to protect themselves, and their customers, by providing the nutrition information people need to make informed choices about their products” (Zinczenco, 2002.) In making this comment, Zinczenco urges fast food

Children are hit hard with all of the advertisement of fast food places and although the results are positive for the companies, the health of these children ends up in a negative.

Recently, parents began to swap out sugary cereals for ones that claimed to “contain less sugar” and filled their pantries with snacks that had “less artificial additives” (Kellogg Company). What parents may not know is that some of these substitute foods, like Welch’s reduced sugar fruit snacks, and fat-free turkey, are not nutritious and actually contain more sodium than the daily requirement, are highly processed, loaded with even more sugars, fats, and chemicals like diacetyl than the original product. (Jacques). It is no secret that processed foods are harmful and unhealthy for us, nevertheless, processed products dominate natural food in America’s kitchens and cafeterias. Our country needs to see strict regulations for school lunches that are FDA

Although specified in the documentary “Hungary for Change”, in a day we eat hundreds of calories, but that food lack nutrients because we are eating countless amounts chemicals that are deteriorating our bodies. Not to mention numerous food products contain sugars, aspartame, MSG, and high-fructose corn syrup. Consuming a high dose of these ingredients can severely damage your nervous system, brain, cause allergies, seizures, and weight gain. In the article “The impact of food advertising on childhood obesity” it positions how “research has found strong associations between increases in advertising for non-nutritious foods and rates of childhood obesity.” Following up with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “obesity has other than doubled among children ages two to five from five to twelve percent and ages six to eleven from six point five to seventeen percent.”

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

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

How delicious and mouthwatering is a large slice of pizza, cheeseburger piled high with bacon or a hot fudge sundae with extra hot fudge? Most adults choose their favorite foods in early childhood and keep them throughout their life. The food and beverage industry has responded to America’s food passion. They have increased sugar in drinks and offer larger portions of food as well. The food and beverage industry has also specialized in food that appeals to children alone. From the exciting music, vibrant colors, celebrity filled commercials and the prizes promised in every box of cereal, children have become one of the main targets of the food and beverage industry. For many years obesity among youths was over looked but now there is an