Media Influences on Childhood Obesity

The study from Singapore is just one specific example of how much pressure the media is placing on children, and what they consume, and how unbeneficial this pressure is. Another study conducted by Kristen Harrison and Amy L. Marske also shows the correlation between food advertising, how it is geared towards children, and the nutritional benefits, or lack thereof, of the foods being advertised. These researchers focused on just the nutritional content of the foods being advertised during hours of peak child viewers. They then coded the foods being advertised based on what type of food it was, such as breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack food. They found that fast food and sweets comprised eighty-three percent of all the food advertisement in hoursofpeak child viewers.  Snack foods were depicted much more than any other

Commercials through television and radio aimed towards children are ethical because it helps build healthy ideals. Through commercials, children can see that doing certain things are good for you! They can see that it is what they should do. “Advertising and marketing techniques could encourage children to eat

Children are targeted in these ads they try to draw their attention by making the ads fun, and by using cool phrases. Moss proposes and “He explained how he would deploy strategic storytelling in the ad campaign for his snack, using a key phrase that had been developed with much calculations:” Eat’ Em Like Junk Food’ (494).This proves that ads plays a role in promoting food that are unhealthy and is putting children 's health at risk for obesity. To sum it up, children are exposed to high amount of unhealthy food advertisements which affects young children health and food choices. Therefore, the government needs to intervene and stopping the advertisement of unhealthy eating and start advertising healthier foods.

Parents should shape their children eating habit, by giving them healthy food such as vegetable, and fruit. Parents should prevent their children to have access to junk food, and decrease kids’ food preference. Parents can also encourage their kids to walk to and from school if the school is not too far. Parents should cut off TV time for their kids to two hours a day. Moderate physical activity is very important for children to maintain healthy weight. Kids should be encourage to exercise at 30 minutes a day. This should be done at school since children spend most of their day time at school. Another action that needs to be taken to reduce childhood obesity is food regulation at elementary schools. Government should remove vending machines from all elementary school because these foods contain high calories. The price of low calories food should be reduced to encourage children to eat healthy.

Although adults can view food advertisements critically to diminish their intended effects on their diet, Mello, Studdert, and Brennan found that children do not have this same cognitive ability (2605). They found that children under eight years of age are “generally unable to understand the persuasive intent of advertising” (2601). This means that children aged seven and under may not be able to distinguish the difference between when they are being marketed to and when they are being educated, for instance. This is likely the reason why “children who watch more television than do other children are more likely to identify incorrectly which of two foods is more healthful” (Mello, Studdert, and Brennan 2605). Studies have found that around 50% of “all nutrition-related information in television advertisements is misleading or inaccurate” (Mello, Studdert, and Brennan 2605). The food industry’s advertising practices are deceitful and harmful, yet they are not currently subject to legal

Media coverage contributes to how childhood obesity is framed and stigmatized in Canadian society. The media contributes to changes in popular culture, which can affect how the dilemma of childhood obesity is viewed and addressed. Several forms of media, including campaigns, social media, and the news help to construct popular opinions when looking at the issue. The views provided by different media platforms and organizations help to frame the problem of childhood obesity, and address the problems associated with the dilemma.

The rate of childhood obesity is growing at a rapid rate across the globe, creating concerns as obesity leads on to other serious illnesses including diabetes, heart disease, hyperinsulinaemia (an excessive amount of insulin in the blood), hyperlipidaemia (high number of lipoproteins in the blood) and hypertension (extremely high blood pressure) (Cole et al, 2000).

Hospitalizations of children for obesity-related illnesses are on the rise, “the annual direct cost of childhood obesity is reaching nearly $14.3 billion”(Mikailova). It is very worrying that children are developing such bad health conditions due to the rising rates of obesity. Despite the growing rates of obesity related hospitalizations advertisements for unhealthy foods continue to be aired during children’s programming.

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

Marketing of food to children on the internet is even more complex since the boundaries between content and pure advertising is often less clear than on television. Only a minority of advertisers include reminders distinguishing content from pure advertising. A large amount of Food brands that advertise

Childhood obesity is undoubtedly one of the most controversial issues in modern society, and is regarded as one of the most serious health problems. Research has shown overweight and obese children generally grow up to be overweight and/or obese as adults, who are highly likely to be predisposed to health factors such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other sorts of illnesses. With fast food, soda, sedentary activities, and technology surrounding everyone in society, it is a prominent reason why individuals are slowly becoming overweight. Fast food is quite cheaply and widely available and has become significantly more popular. Parents often turn to more convenient foods, which are mostly the fast food due to their busy lifestyles or because of the economic problems, and children have easy access to unhealthy foods and sugary drinks at school and generally places. Children generally are not educated in regards to knowing how to make the best choices about the food that they eat, and they will generally reach for more convenient and processed foods.

About a third of children in the U.S. are considered overweight or obese, and researchers believe television advertising is a significant contributing factor (4). Exposure to television advertising is basically universal and the ads present foods as desirable and attractive. Children have been shown to be far more receptive to television advertising messages than classroom lessons (3). It leaves a harder lasting impression on them because the food products are presented in a cool, fun way that attracts children. Most of the time, children would pick foods that they may not even like, simply because they think it’s the cool thing to eat and once a kid gets his mind set on what they want, it is very hard to steer them away from wanting it. Television ads for foods geared toward children are usually fun, and bright with animations and lots of cool characters that the children can relate to. This directly influences the child’s food preference and unfortunately most of these ads are for processed, unhealthy food products like cereals, snacks, fast food, and soft drinks. In the U.S., there are few restrictions on food ads, but that's not the case in the U.K., where junk food can't be marketed on children's television (4).

Fast food has become a part of everyone’s lives these days. Whether it is going out to the chain restaurant or seeing their famous advertisements. With children spending more time in front of a screen than doing any other activity (The Impact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity) so the children are more likely to see these advertisements. Since children under the age of eight do not understand the intent of the persuasive advertisements that these fast food chains release their advertisements directed at children of those ages (The Impact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity). With these advertisements directed at them when parents ask what they want for dinner, they are more likely to say the fast food restaurant the child saw on their device. Since

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

In today’s world television has become one of the most popular and frequently used pastimes. With the increase of technology available today people can now watch television on their phones, laptops, and tablets wherever they go. Something else that has increased in the past years are the number of obese people in the United States. In the last couple decades it was estimated that the number of obese children age 2-5 has more than doubled (5.0% to 12.4%) and for ages 6-11 it has also more than doubled (6.5% to 17.0%). In adolescents aged 12-19 the number has more than tripled (5.0% to 17.0%) and as for adults it is estimated that 70% of Americans are overweight and out of that percentage 50% are obese (Boulos, Vikre, Oppenheimer, Chang, & Kanarek, 2012). It is no coincidence that as the number of prolonged television use has risen so has the number of obese people in America. Television has a negative impact on children that in the long run can lead to obesity.