Unhealthy Food Advertising

Advertising companies that produce commercials of food are taking an effect of teens healths. Anna Lappe discussed this situation in a video called, Real Food Media Project - Mythbusters Ep.2, she says, “... By the time Ida graduates from middle school one in three of her classmates will either have diabetes or on their way to getting it…” The children of this world are being affected by the foods that they are eating, these children are eating harmful products that can affect their health later on in their life. Another statement Anna Lappe discusses in her video is, “... only 16%...” of these kids are eating fruits and vegetables.

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.

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

Parental neglect of offering healthy food for their kids led to compound the crisis. Recently, the consumption of fast food has dramatically risen in the U.S. The huge relevance of fast food restaurants, such as McDonald's, KFC, Burger King, Taco Bell and others, could be a contributor in changing the Americans style of food, and increasing their intake of these unhealthy foods. According to a research conducted about fast food consumption in the U SS, 22% of parents said that their kids consume fast food meals at least once a week, which might easily drive to obesity. As known, the main aim of fast food companies is raising their profitability, and therefore, their plan is to sell food as much as they could despite their knowledge that it is unhealthy. So, they focused on attracting kids to buy from them by enticing advertisements. They know how to draw kids’ attention, especially when they describe the taste of their meals and show their toys that come with them. There is no doubt that TV programs and advertisements have a strong impact on children. Many studies have confirmed that watching TV for a long time during a day is able to influence kids in their attitudes and habits. The problem of eating fast food is that it has a lack of fiber and dairy, contains a high density of energy, and has big amounts of protein, fat and sugar, which makes it the unhealthy

In order to live a healthy lifestyle and reach 142 children must eat healthier. 16% of children and teenagers are overweight, which means they have a body mass index of 25 or more. Food advertisements have served as an effective tool of persuasion to sway children toward unhealthy foods that have contributed to the current epidemic attitudes

As a result of the constant marketing of unhealthy, saturated fatty foods towards a younger demographic, America’s youth is rapidly becoming obese as they are left defenseless against these multi-billion dollar companies. According to the Annual Review of Public Health, about “35% of American children are overweight or obese” (Harris, 212). Children who are obese are more susceptible to an entire life full of medical problems and complications. Reports also indicate that the numbers of obesity have been on the rise for the past couple of years. In addition to that, “in the next 25 years” the likelihood of developing type 2 diabetes “is expected to rise by 36.5% in the United States” (Harris, 212). This is a staggering number that should not be taken lightly. Measures need to be taken in order to prevent numbers from reaching critical levels such as this. There are many ways that food marketing effects the health levels

The comprehensive assortment of convenient processed foods high in sugar, salt and fat, frequently marketed in large serving sizes with excessive sides, has ultimately made selecting healthy eating choices more difficult for the average consumer and policymakers. Various health experts maintain the onslaught of advertising and promotion surreptitiously and unfavourably influencing ingestion patterns and food partialities of individuals further complicates the issue. There has been substantial encouragement, which has pressured governments and politicians to implement restrictions on the publicising of unhealthy foods, particularly those targeting children. (Jolly, R. 2011)

All across the world, society is infused with media. Everything is about it. Movies, news celebrities, and the worst one. Advertisements. These ads cause the human to long for the need to obtain a certain product. The greatest victim is the children. Watching television everyday can make the children ache for the need to own the new toy or something, junk food. Junk food is advertised as good food or “hip” food. Kids become persuaded with the images and videos into thinking that they must want it, thus asking their parents. A study done by Dr. Strasburger figured out that screen time that advertises junk food and fast food increases children 's requests for those particular foods and products. Such as; snacking increases while watching TV or movies, and late-night screen time interferes with getting adequate amounts of sleep, which is a known risk factor for obesity (Strasburger). This includes the studies that were conducted by the nations

In today’s society, everyone is familiar with the enjoyable commercials of junk food products that can be seen anywhere on television, and on America’s most anticipated sporting event each year: the Superbowl. However, these advertisements are convincing people to buy into unhealthy food products, which can lead to many health challenges for many people. Many marketing gimmicks are used by companies to appeal to several different social groups, yet children are targeted with food advertisement far more than anyone else. Companies such as Coca Cola and McDonald’s are able to entice millions of people across the world, and all due to how they construct their advertisements. Because of these companies, many people are caused illness and obesity,

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.

Advertisements, opposed to promoting unhealthy foods, should do the opposite and make health-awareness-based commercials, an aspect that may scare some into not eating unhealthy as often, if at all. There will certainly be people will not be affected by the changes and continue to follow through with their usual habits, but there will be others who may end up moving to the other side. Obesity in the U.S. has increased substantially over time; according to the American Psychological Association, the rate has tripled within the last quarter century, and statistics continue to worsen regarding the matter ("The Impact of Food Advertising”). If changes are not made, then diabetes and other health-related diseases will eventually dominate the country.

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

The commercials feature animated characters selling fast food kid meals. Children relate with the cartoon characters and want to eat the foods that are being promoted. Children receive the message that fast food is good for them, and do not understand that eating too much fast food can be unhealthy for them. Unfortunately the message from this type of advertising is geared toward the child thinking I need to have the fast food. This is a bad message to leave in children?s minds, because it can also cause problems with their health. The obesity rate in young children has risen drastically over the last twenty years. Health reports have attributed this to the continuing increase in the amount of fast food children are consuming. Television commercials for fast food are on every channel, and the number of channels has risen over the last twenty years. Children who watch television are exposed to a non-stop borage of commercials. This continual exposure promotes a cycle of the child always wanting to go to the fast food restaurants. Parents also are affected by the commercials. Their children want to eat fast food, and the fast food is very convenient for busy families. It is much easier to go through a drive-thru and order the food, then to cook the meal at home. This can be a harmful pattern for the family to establish. Convenience over a more healthy home cooked meal adds to the childhood obesity

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.