Unethical Food Marketing to Children

More research is needed to examine whether food advertising is a causal factor for increased risk of obesity. Experimental and epidemiologic research, including longitudinal designs, is needed to study the effect of food advertising on children's food choices, eating behaviors and body weight. Studies need to include the various marketing channels used to reach youth, such as television, schools, and the Internet, as well as different age periods, such as early childhood, middle childhood, and

Children spend nearly $30 billion of their own money on junk food. Marion Nestle stated on https://www.nejm.org that, “The food companies make misleading claims and they spend massive amounts sponsoring scientist and major health organizations to influence their research and guidelines.” Yet, marketing’s recent tactics have gone way further to persuade children. Along with television advertisements, they have shifted to product placements in toys, games, educational materials, songs, movies, and much more. The IOM noted that “…by two years of age most children can recognize products in supermarkets and ask for them by name.” More children are becoming obese and diabetic before they’re old enough to make decisions about these

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.

The food industry has mastered the delicate art of trickery over many years and has been able to convince consumers to buy their products, thinking they are healthy, when in reality they are contributing immensely to the obesity epidemic in America. Food corporations have developed a marketing strategy where they target juvenile audiences with their products. The companies do this by having advertisements on children's television programs encouraging children to buy their processed, high-sugar food products. Companies get kids’ attention by including beloved children's figures with their commercials, thus piquing their interest. Children view their favorite characters on television programs and ask their parents or guardians to purchase the items for them and the parents, remaining blissfully unaware that they are relinquishing their child's health to mass food corporations, concede and buy the food, which causes their child to become unhealthy and eventually obese. Another way food companies market their products is by embedding their advertisements with words like “Cheap, easy, fast”, which appeals to low income families looking for a inexpensive meal, or families on the go that need to quickly get a bite to eat. Due to the fact that unhealthy fast food choices are often the easiest method for gaining a quick meal, more and more families are

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.

We don’t want children to watch certain shows or movies that won’t be appropriate for them so we tend to divert their attention to movies or shows that would be more suitable to their age. Edmunds and Dennison’s (2008) study suggested that there are certain contents really choses their targets. They have mentioned that shows and advertisements easily targeted children. “Marketing to youth appears to be successful. Most data suggest that children’s food preference, short term consumption, and usual dietary intakes are influenced by television advertising” (Edmunds and Dennison 2008). I think that television shows of today and certain products that they demonstration can easily divert the attention of the child and it would force them to crave that product. In a study conducted by Zimmerman and Bell (2010), they viewed a time-use diary data to compare and contrast the association of childhood obesity and television. They conducted their study to children ages 0-13 years of age. They also collected data based on the BMI scores of the children and if the number of hours they were watching commercials or advertisements to the actual show that they were watching. Based on the results that they’ve gathered they’ve concluded that by simply watching television it doesn’t really contribute to childhood obesity but by watching television advertisements on the other hand, it had a different impact on children and the way

According to a news report on MSNBC “TV ads contribute to childhood obesity” by News Correspondent Tracie Potts (2005), “the Institute of Medicine said television advertising strongly influences what children under 12 eat”. This quote suggests that children are easily influence by what they see on television and it reflects in what they eat. Animated characters that all children readily know are used to promote unhealthy food choices, such as junk food or fast food. It has become the norm for fast food companies to advertise to the younger crowd promoting toys in kids' meals or bigger portions for the teenage population. Kids are more concerned with getting a toy than they are at eating a healthy meal full of fruits and vegetables that their growing bodies’ need. Parents are giving into their children about fast food or junk food, because they don't want to seem like bad parents or have their children throwing a fit in public; so instead of cooking a meal at home that is healthy and nutrition packed, they settle for the quick option of fast food or junk food which is loaded up on fats and sugars. Many parents as well do not know the food pyramid and what exactly their children are to be eating on a daily basis, and this result has caused our nation to be on the rise with children who are considered obese, not only due to their weight, but mainly due to their BMI. Body

In conclusion, TV advertisements obviously play a vital part in childhood obesity. Unhealthy foods that have been advertised on television truly affect a child. Children will learn anything that shows on TV. Most of the researches prove that children that spend less time on television have a lower possibility to become overweight and obese compared to children who spend more time on television. Research shows that food advertising affect children’s food selections and food purchases of parents.

In 2002 Peterson and Fjellstrom found that in the United States and other leading world countries that children have gained an increased spending power in the families. This study followed a trend showing marketers began marketing their products toward the children not the parents. It has been said that every adult product from “soup to soap” has been scaled down and “funned up” to market to younger children. An increased advertising after school and on saturday morning has been added to market toys and food to children. In a study of nutritional foods and what sells them to children, Feinstein and Lobstein defined a child’s food as any product that includes at least one of the following: a character they see in a familiar cartoon,

As stated by the world of kids, “Currently, an estimated 1 billion people – that’s a little over 1 in 7 – are overweight, and at least 300 million of them are classified as clinically obese.” Even though the commercials for fast food are increasing, fast food advertisements do not contribute to obesity in children because children live a sedentary lifestyle and parents fail to provide a balanced diet. In a recent study Fast Food commercials seem to have risen in the past decade (childhood).

Researchers stated that 34% of parents with children under 12-years-old, and 60% of parents with teenagers, stated that they spend more in the supermarket when they go shopping with their kids then when they go by themselves (Harris, Schwartz, & Brownell, 2009). When parents shop with their children, they have to debate more with them on the idea of what is healthy and unhealthy for them, and what makes their child happy. Furthermore, approximately 35,000 of all television food advertisements watched by children are high in sugar, fat, or sodium (Speers, Harris, & Schwartz, 2011). Television is where children get the idea of what food tastes better and what brand of food they would prefer to eat.

There is presently much controversy regarding the idea of unhealthy foods and how companies shamelessly market these products to children. Individuals in the food and beverage industry constantly promote the belief that they are actively involved in providing society with important information concerning what is healthy and what is not. Moreover, most promote their products as having no negative effects on individuals who consume them, as doing otherwise would surely reflect badly on their businesses. It is generally known that children are vulnerable because they have very little experience in filtering information and food companies take advantage of this by introducing diverse methods to promote their products even with the fact that it is likely for children to get sick as a consequence.

Over the past year political momentum has grown for strong action to tackle childhood obesity and there is an emerging consensus that regulation of food advertising to children is both necessary and achievable. A key factor in this debate has been the publication of the Food Standards Agency 's (FSA) review of research into the link between food promotion and eating behaviour in children, undertaken by Professor Gerard Hastings and colleagues at the University of Strathclyde.2 Though the findings are heavily qualified, the authors conclude that advertising to children does have an adverse effect on food preferences, purchasing behaviour and consumption.

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