The Link Between Food Promotion And Eating Behavior

Some children’s families do not have the finances to purchase healthy foods, so they buy what they can afford which is fast food and junk. Markets have lowered their prices for the unhealthy food making it easier for consumers to buy and harder to resist when it fits in the budget. Also, television has become a big part of the youth’s extra-curricular activities. Children don’t spend most of their time outside playing anymore, now they watch TV for more than seven hours. A recent literature review by Kaiser Family Foundation highlighted a number of studies that suggested that advertising influenced dietary and other food choices in children (M. Dehghan, N. Akhtar-Danesh and A. Merchant). While watching TV for hours on end, they will see advertising for fast food restaurants and junk food. Unhealthy foods are advertised on TV to target children and adolescents. TV viewing is a contributing factor to childhood obesity because it may take away from the time children spend in physical activities. Watching TV leads to increase calorie intake through snacking and eating meals in front of the TV. Plus influence children to make unhealthy food choices through exposure to food advertisements that are unhealthy.

Childhood obesity is a condition involving the excessive accumulation of body fat that has negative effect on the health of the young individual. It is a worldwide epidemic affecting 1 in 4 Australian children (AIHW, 2012). There are many factors that could lead to a child becoming obese, including, the general lifestyle of their family (Diet and physical activity), their communities attitude towards health and wellbeing as well as their own knowledge on healthy habits. Advertising for healthy living in Australia is vital to get the message out to parents and children of how important healthy habits are. Campaigns such as 2 Fruit & 5 Veg and the Crunch & Sip programs in primary school come across in a way that is easy for kids to understand

Additionally, the connection found between childhood obesity and the marketing of the food industry in the American Psychological Association’s article The Impact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity is intriguing because it has been found that the advertisement of fast food may affect childhood obesity. The marketing of food industries has an impact on childhood obesity because fast food

Obesity rate continue to rapidly increase among children. One possible contributor to the Obesity epidemic is unhealthy food advertisements that are directly targeted to children. In the article “The impact of Food Branding on Children's Eating Behavior and Obesity” children each day are:

Although, this is only one side of the argument whether to blame the advertiser or the parent for childhood obesity this article shows the point of view of a health expert and the parent and how serious of an issue this is becoming in the country. This article drove me to search the opposing side of this argument to get a better understanding of this topic.

Over the years, children have been lacking in good health, mainly due to media. Everywhere a child goes, they will always be shown an advertisement. The biggest type of advertisement that impacts a child’s physical health is related to food. According to the Royal College of Physicians, obesity rates have increase significantly among youth from 1989 – 2002 (Rogstad & Copas, 2004). On television, majority of the food advertisements are submissive to breakfast cereals, soft drinks, fast-food restaurants (Livingstone & Helsper, 2006). Obesity is one of the health problems children are facing today, as the numbers counting to increase, but they are not at fault because companies know how to make them want the junk foods that cause this.

Elaine Kolish, Vice President of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB), discusses the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) that was launched between the bureau and ten leading food companies in the United States. The goal of the initiative is not to eliminate food advertising to children, primarily under the age of twelve, but to advertise products that are more nutrient dense and lower in calories, sugars, sodium, and fats. The CFBAI evaluates how and if such commercials are intended for children in addition to setting criteria as for how to limit these factors. The CFBAI is making efforts to promote and recruit more companies and agencies into exercising their ideas and changing nutrition regulation within the

This article is well written and helps support my argument that there are many more factors influencing childhood obesity, not just marketing. Significant data was provided in this article, specifically the fact that the advertisement rates at which children see food advertisements has actually decreased by percentage since 1977 to 2004. Other equally significant points are made concerning the role of parents as the gatekeepers of product purchases as well as industry self-regulation.

Obesity an imperative health issue all inclusive. In the course of the most recent five years, the issue has climbed the rundown of political needs and is currently a standout amongst the most fervently subjects in business and political circles. Inside of this review, the marketing business is being blamed for pushing so as to hare the strength of the country unseemly nourishment and beverage onto shoppers, advancing destructive dietary change, and shelling youngsters with messages that undermine parental power and governments' positive eating messages .

Childhood obesity has become a global health problem. Almost 15% of children between 5-11 are obese currently. The number of it has more than doubled in the past two decades. The unregulated advertising which aim at children is the reason why the growth rate of childhood obesity. Industry response to the issue of obesity and food advertising to children has been pre-emptively strong. In order to cope with TV advertising have a negative impact on children's health, many countries have begun to limit their television companies advertising. In 2004, the British Government introduced a new policy to prohibit any television channel advertise "junk food" advertisement before 9 pm; in November 2006, British Telecommunications enacted a law to prohibit

s children is that more is better: super-sized servings of French fries and soda, gigantic buckets of movie popcorn (with free refills) and king- sized candy bars (Dillon, 2009, p. 16). According to Harris (2012), one-third of the kids in the United States are overweight, yet fast food chains continue to target them and provide them with unhealthy food without telling them what they are actually eating. In all the studies that I read all the researchers used BMI (body mass index) to the probability of advertisements raising kid’s body fat there is a correlation suggesting that lower cost of fast food make it more accessible to young kids. Although not all the studies agreed on how much responsibility ads hold they all agreed that part of the

Do advertisements cause children and teens to make unhealthy food choices? Advertisers put cartoon and television stars on their products (fruit snacks, mac and cheese, candy Etc.) gaining control of what kids eat. Examples are everywhere, the store, television, at events. There's no escape from advertisements on the sweet delicious juicy unhealthy foods.

Obesity is a major issue that has plagued many Americans in the past 50 years. Obesity is not something that should be taken lightly as it is known to lead to multiple health concerns and overall lower life expectancy. Unfortunately, the rate of obesity of children under the age of 19 has drastically increased from where it was in 1971. Also, there was a notable spike in the last 10 years and these rates continue to rise (Pineros-Leano). So why the recent spike? The fast-food industry. Despite the industry effort to reduce the marketing aimed and children, fast-food advertising for kids has only increased (Melnick). Targeting children at such a vulnerable time in their lives is a shameful strategy that has had remarkable success. At the end of the day the goal of these companies is to make as much of a profit as possible, they do not care about the obesity rate or what their food is doing to their consumers. Childhood obesity is an issue that needs to be addressed and in order for us to do that we have to recognize what these fast-food companies are doing and find a solution to ending this advertising to kids.

In today’s society, the food and beverage industry is faced with an ongoing ethical dilemma because they are far more concerned with making money than providing a good, safe, and healthy product for consumers. The biggest victims in this unethical marketing scheme are children. Children are the least informed and most influenced of all potential consumers (5). Although children usually don’t directly purchase these products themselves, their desires strongly influence their parent’s decision on what to buy and what the child will eat. Most products geared towards children are unhealthy, processed foods that are high in sugars and low in nutritional content (6). This has led to a rise in childhood

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