The Impact Of Food Advertising On Childhood Obesity

The Fast Food and Childhood Obesity article discuss how fast food has contributed for the weight gained by childrens. According to the article Americans are eating out more, which has influenced on the children gaining weight, but the weight gained by children are significantly weight from fast food calories. Childrens from twelve to nineteen years old are more likely to eat fast food and the reason for that could be because at this age they get influenced more by what they see on tv, commercial and their parents do not have a lot of control on what their children's eat. This article states encourage people to their meals at home because home cooked food tends to be smaller and healthier. I can use this article to help with my research paper

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.

Teenagers have a “... need for independence, rebellion, and personal control,” (Source F). Marketers can use this in many ways. They can use it to their economical advantage by manipulating teenagers into buying their goods. But, PSA’s can really show teenagers the facts and promote good morals. Recent studies look into how advertisements affect adolescents, “... these studies show that social marketing has successfully changed health behavior such as smoking, physical activity, and condom use, as well as behavioral mediators such as knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs related to these behaviors,” (Source F). While it's true that it's easy for teenagers to be manipulated by commercials, a lot of other commercials can be a strong influence in building better lives for them. If people could focus on the pros rather then the cons, then they could see the big picture of marketing to

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.

There has been a long term concern that youth or children who eat from fast food restaurants have a big risk for becoming overweight. Some research shows that "greater familiarity with fast food advertising on television is associated with obesity in young people" (Pediatric Academic Societies parag.1). It is known that these children and adolescents are being extremely exposed to fast food advertising including the internet, social media, and particularly on television. The marketer and owners of these fast food restaurants use many techniques to attract children and help cause childhood obesity. Not only are they mainly targeting children but also they target low

Many people believe that everything is black and white, especially when it comes to advertisements. What many don’t understand is that everything has an underlining meaning. Every advertisement has been thought out thoroughly to catch the attention of the consumers it is aiming towards. Advertisements aiming towards children has definitely been a topic that many people can’t seem to wrap their mind around. It’s been a topic that many have exposed because of the way marketers are willing to manipulate children in ways that only benefit their own. This whole issue began after the progression of marketing to children during the late 70s and early 80s with the advertisers’ intentions of making children lifelong consumers of products.

While there are some positive things about advertising, the negatives are far more destructive. Due to advertising, girls and women are being objectified, unhealthy eating habits are being promoted, and materialism

The advertisement industry has come a long way over the years. Television ad 's used to be based primarily on newspapers and magazines but with the occurrence of growing technology, has moved on to things such as radio, television and the internet. In this day and age, advertisement techniques can be considered almost predatory in nature targeting people who are interested in new forms of technology, gaming, clothing and even food. It has become easier for a products influence to make its way into people 's homes. Even though television advertisements can be incredibly powerful tools, they cannot be held entirely accountable for childhood obesity because other factors may affect the childhood obesity epidemic, such as household environment, psychological issues, sleep disturbances or even actions taken by the mother while she was pregnant.

“A recent examination of the nutritional content of food ads during children’s programming found that 72.5% were for high-calorie, low-nutrient products; 26.6% were for high-fat or high-sugar products: and just 0.9% were for low-calorie, nutrient-rich products” (Powell, Schermbeck). Even web sites promote unhealthy food products which create a bad perception for a healthy lifestyle for kids. Gaming web sites particularly, market poor-nutrient foods targeted for children. Research has shown that food advertising companies have strategized an effective selling plan towards children. Companies rely on features that appeal to children: happy, colorful, vibrant, exciting and fun. There are very little food product advertisements promoting fruits and vegetables. These influences shape children’s nutritional knowledge, eating practices and weight status. All in all television exposure is linked to diet misconceptions. The misconceptions have a domino effect on children’s food preference and choices which then poorly effects children’s unhealthy weight status.

Children are easily influenced, and buisnesses are aware of that. They purposfully create commercials to attract the young. Flashy, bright, colorful, silly commercials that play between every show these children are watching. Commercials that are designed to make kids want whatever they are selling. This method works very well, the evidence is obvious. Instead of letting children discover what they like, we push these objects onto them, and they buy them.

Fast food companies do not hold back, and they take full advantage of this by advertising their fattening food products that appeal to the children. The American Psychological Association website explains that “Research has found strong associations between increases in advertising for non-nutritious foods and rates of childhood obesity” (“The Impact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity”). This direct relationship shows the harboring effect that advertisements have on childhood obesity. This also affects the child psychologically. “Most children under age 6 cannot distinguish between programming and advertising and children under age 8 do not understand the persuasive intent of advertising” (“The Impact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity”). Without even realizing it, children are channeling in on these persuasive and luxurious looking advertisements. One tactic that some fast food restaurants use is the inclusion of a free toy with a kid’s meal. “For more than 30 years, McDonald’s has included toys alongside children’s Happy Meals. And for more than 30 years, the rates of diabetes and obesity in children have steadily increased” (“Childhood Lost”). By promoting their business with bribes like this, unhealthy eating habits form, which can result in obesity problems. The fast food industries know that children are vulnerable, so they target them with these bribes. “Happy Meals are marketed as explicitly for children, and then children are rewarded with toys for consuming the high amounts of fat and sodium” (“Childhood Lost”). This is a crafty technique that some fast food restaurants use to sell off their products. Children are too young to realize the effect the advertisements have on them and the long term consequences that may come with

It has come down to this, there is an obesity epidemic. It 's like people can’t stop themselves from eating so much. Well, I guess eating isn 't necessarily the big problem here... It 's the type of food that people are consuming, fast food. America tops the list of world 's most obese countries. It 's just sad and something needs to be done about it. The worst part is that there are so many children being affected by obesity. According to CDC (Centers for Disease Control), approximately 17% (12.7 million) of children and adolescents aged 2-19 years had obesity. Also, in 2012 they found that more than one third of children and adolescents were overweight or obese (CDC). This is crazy! That is a lot of obese and overweight children that suffer from obesity from such a early time in their life. Who 's to blame for all this obesity? We can branch off and look at various things causing obesity in children. But, it is proven that fast food marketers and advertisers play one of the biggest roles in this obesity epidemic. Fast food marketers understand and know that advertising works, and brings them customers. They don 't really care so much about people being obese, it 's just business to them. Which is why something needs to be done about it all. A lot of people don 't even think about fast food being that bad or harmful, but it is and people need to understand that. “The truth is, fast food doesn’t always mean that it’s bad

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

Obesity is a big social problem in today’s society. Children who are obese gets influenced by a lot of things like food at stores, and they are influenced especially by commercials and ads. Clearly, children between ages 8-12 are receiving the highest rates of ad exposure. They are entering a critical stage of

Advertising is something that everyone sees, whether that be driving down the road, listening to the radio, or watching television everyone is bound to see some. Children growing up today cannot go a day without checking Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. These children are always on their phones or watching television so they see these advertisements hundreds of times a month. When watching television, it is impossible not to see an advertisement about sugary or fast food, alcohol, or sexual advertisements which are all affecting today’s children and adolescents. Although most of these advertisements are focused towards adults, they hit children and adolescents the hardest.