The Debate: Advertising To Children

In the United States today, obesity has become an enormous problem. In the last 3 decades, the number of people overweight has increased dramatically. A study done by the Centers of Disease Control showed that since 1980, one third of our adult population has become overweight. America is the richest but also the fattest nation in the world and our obese backsides are the butt of jokes in every other country (Klein 28). The 1980s were a time when Americans suddenly started going crazy over dieting, jumping onto the treadmills, and buying prepackaged non-fat foods. However, while all of that was going on, the number of obese Americans began to increase. According to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 58 million

One of the main effects marketing take effects on youth is they're health. According to the documentary The Myth of Choice: How Junk Food Marketers Target Our Kids. 1 in 3 kids each day eat fast food, causing cancer, obesity, and diabetes type 2. This shows that if advertisers don't care about kids health or they're oblivious to the affects. And it's most likely not going to change. Also from the documentary, The Myth of Choice: How Junk Food Marketers Target Our Kids. It states “engineered to target parts of your brain that want fat and sugar”. Junk food companies hire scientists to like it said, target the parts of the brain that want your body to have that type of stuff. So is basically addicts you to the food so you'll always want to have

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.

Obesity has become an epidemic in the United States. With such a significant percentage of the population (68.8% of Americans are overweight or obese) dealing with weight issues and with food marketing pushing cheap, fast food options, Americans are suffering from serious health consequences.

Obesity in the United States has been a serious problem affecting Americans and has been continually growing higher in numbers each year. American obesity has nearly doubled within the last 40 years and is now considered to be an epidemic that is affecting millions of people around the nation. According to the National institute of Diabetes and digestive and kidney Diseases, 31% of men and 35% of women are considered seriously overweight, along with 15% of children between the ages of six and nineteen are also overweight. The lack of physical inactivity and extreme poor dieting are catching up to almost the same threat as cigarettes and tobacco smoking. We as a nation are considered to be the fattest country in the world.

it strikes in wealthy countries like the United States, Tonga and Nauru ,about 2.8 million people die of obesity or health issues each year , this is due to the lack of diet and exercise mostly in the United States as well as other countries. it is that they have no money or they live in poverty, it is because they don't exercise and watch what they eat more people would be less overweight if they actually watched their weight and less people would be dying of obesity and other health related issues.

America is rated the number one for obesity in the whole world, with a 30.6% of the population being classed as obese. Also it has had its own T.V. documentary show done on it, “Super Size Me” which shows what Americans eat and the drastic damage it can do to your body.

America’s Obesity rate has dramatically increased throughout the years. The United States of America obesity rate is ranked in the top 10 countries in the whole universe. This is outrageous, and there must be something done in order to decrease it. Many Americans don’t even know what obesity means and how it targets millions in the nation. Obesity is when an individual is overweight, this can be classified with your BMI. Many reasons that obesity can attack you is through great amounts of calories we intake daily, and our lack of exercise,

Within the last decade, the rate of obesity has been increasing. In 2012, at least one-third of U.S. adults were obese.1 It is expected by 2018 that the number of obese adults increases to half of U.S. adults.2 The rates for children and adolescents are increasing as well. In 2012, about seventeen percent of children and adolescents were obese.2 However, the number of obese individuals vary throughout the U.S. The South and Midwest have a higher prevalence of obesity while the West and Northeast have lower rates.3 America, on the other hand, is not the only country with increasing rates. Other European countries such as Europe, Ireland, and Sweden are on this trend.4 The increasing prevalence of obesity in the U.S. is due to numerous

The marketing of junk food to children is harmful and should be restricted because children lack of ability to independently make informed and practical nutrition decisions that lead to sound long-term eating habits.

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).

Too many of America’s children are overweight or obese. One in six American children are overweight or obese. Obesity can lead to a lifetime of health issues, including but not limited to, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Advertisements for sugary drinks and junk food that is marketed to children, mostly on television, have been proven to be the main cause of childhood obesity. That is why advertisers should not market unhealthy sugary drinks and junk food to children on television because this directly leads to obesity. Parents can limit the viewing of unhealthy food commercials, communities can boycott unhealthy food products, lawmakers can give the FTC and FCC more power to regulate these types of commercials, and all food companies can unanimously decide on the same rules for self-regulation, these are all steps toward decreasing the amount of overweight and obese children in America.

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

Thousands of advertisements on junk food, fast food, soft-drink, etc are shown on TV and heard over radio have indirectly lead to the grown of obesity and anorexia in teenagers. This is one of the critical global problem of today which is threatening our next generations for being unhealthy and being exposed to many serious diseases and sicknesses such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problem and anorexia.

The junk food commercials are misleading kids through false statements because of the negativity it can place one’s brain. Advertising to children can create a misunderstanding of what it really is. Junk food commercials can be blamed for obesity, celebrity endorsements, and mental health.