The Link Between Food Promotion And Eating Behavior

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

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.

With the substantial rise of the child obesity epidemic that is sweeping across Australia, the conspicuous question arises; what is causing it? On January 29, 2017, an editorial written by an un-named writer, published by The Age, entitled, ‘Block sweetheart deals for junk food makers,’ asserts that the ‘powerful’ junk food industry is to be blamed for tarnishing children’s lives all around the world. The piece is argued in a direct and coherent fashion to appeal to the Australian public.

Sandra Calvert, writer for The Future of Children Journal, explains some products such as cigarettes are banned from advertisements all together. Initially, when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decided cigarettes were a health hazard, they attempted to cut down on the advertisement of cigarettes by playing one public service announcement each time three cigarette commercials played (212-213). A similar strategy could be implemented for food marketing to children. Considering the majority of food products advertised to young people are sugary, unhealthy foods, the FCC should require one commercial dedicated to teaching children about the food pyramid for each of these unhealthy advertisements. This practice could lessen the rates of obesity and result in less “unhealthy weight control behaviors” among obese teens (American Psychology Association Editors). Similar to how they are begging for sugary foods they see on commercials, seeing healthy foods might urge them to beg for fruits and vegetables instead, thus leading to healthier generations. Although this would not completely eliminate a child’s exposure to advertisements of negative products, it would give the child more options to consider and make their own

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

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.

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.

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 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 .

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 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:

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).

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

There are some specific and real problems that advertising can cause upon children (William A. Ramsey). Fast-food restaurant advertising it’s influencing our children to be obese. Childhood obesity around the world is causing worries, especially detrimental as its effect carries on into parenthood. The ratio of children 's who are overweight has approximately tripled in the same period, reaching fourteen percent (Center for disease control

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.