Andie Passi

Professor Campbell

UWRT 1103

31 March 2015

Childhood Obesity: Are Fast Food Restaurants to Blame?

Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States. According to the Center of Disease Control, children above the 85th but below the 95th percentile are considered at risk for overweight and those at or above the age-and sex-specific 95th percentile are considered overweight(NCBI). Over the past thirty years, obesity has more than tripled leaving an estimated 300,000 deaths per year attributed to it (HHS). Professionals have seen a strong correlation between obese children and increased portion size, lack of daily physical activity, and limit access to healthy food (CDC). Not to mention, those are the three most talked about ideas that are known to blame for this epidemic. What Americans do not realize is that there are other, less talked about reasons that have shown to have a positive correlation with this trend. Fast food industries have been targeting to children ever since advertising has been around. Within the last ten years, this has only increased. In fact, the fast food industry spends more than $5 million every day marketing unhealthy foods to children (Prevention Institute). This amounts to a total of $2 billion per year marketing to children (Prevention Institute). Needless to say, 98 percent of food advertisements viewed by children are for products that are high in fat, sugar, or sodium (Prevention Institute). That is nearly all of advertising which is not only shown on television but also on the radio, the internet, and even applications on cell phones and tablets. If fast food advertising for unhealthy food choices is not eliminated, this rapidly growing epidemic will only continue to grow. Advertising is found everywhere. Whether at home or out in public, televisions can be found pretty much anywhere. Not to mention, 98% of US households with children eight years and younger have a television in the home (Tech Addiction). With this being said, children have access to television whenever necessary. In addition, it is said that on average a child sees over ten food-related advertisements every day (Prevention Institution). This means that every time the television is on, a child is seeing some sort of advertisement for unhealthy food. Also, with the increase of technology, children are now also seeing these advertisements on iPads, tablets, cell phones, and the internet. To add on to the growing issue, social media has taken advertising to a whole other level. It is said that social media advertising has proved particularly effective at engaging children because the ads are interactive and spread through networking platforms. In this day and age this is dangerous due to the amount of children that do have some sort of social media account. Fast food companies spend several billion dollars every year making these advertisements as eye-catching as possible. Not only this, but nine times out of ten, they are targeting to young children. Still, professionals argue that these fast food advertisements are not the problem. Since children are not of age to drive a vehicle, it is up to their parents to allow them to eat these unhealthy food choices. Journalist Andrew Christopher argues that this approach undermines the necessity for individuals and families to develop their own ways of controlling their eating habits (The Age). With that being said, although parents do have responsibility, not all parents are going to be able to eliminate this problem. Fast food is so popular because of how quick it is served and how very inexpensive it is. With the continuation of these advertisements, children will only be more influenced to order those unhealthy, high caloric items shown in the advertisements rather than the salads that are hidden in the corner of the menu. One of the growing obstacles facing the solution to juvenile obesity is that fast food companies are being shady with their ways of advertising. For example, McDonalds along with many other fast food restaurants, advertise that with each kids meal they purchase, there will be a free toy in side. McDonalds has even taken their approach farther by creating an interactive website which allows children to play games and take surveys on their favorite food choices. Making the issue worse, it is said that children of a young age cannot distinguish between commercials and program content (Alternet). This makes it difficult for children to understand that companies would be advertising something bad to them. By McDonalds having all the advertising techniques it has, the company is able to make children believe they are a friendly, good-tasting, food company. Even with the support of responsible parents, it is show that one out of three fast food trips occurs due to a childs nagging (Alternet). Not to mention, there is no way to avoid it. Patrick, a typical father, says he pulled the plug on his television..to shield his two daughters from advertising but this has not solved the problem (Alternet). Parents who do take responsibility still deal with the same wrath of these advertisements. No matter how controlled ones home environment is, children are still seeing these advertisements in various public places. Opposers of banning fast food advertising say that even though children nag and are taken to the fast food restaurants, parents still have control of their food choices. Some claim that obesity is caused by someone else's actions rather than being a personal responsibility (The Age). In other words, parents are in control of every choice their child makes. The fact of the matter is that even what appears to be the most healthy choice at a restaurant could be even more unhealthy than the Big Mac shown on television. For example, the McDonalds caesar salad contains 425 calories and 21.4 grams of fat. (Gusmaroli). This is 200 more calories than the standard burger at McDonalds and about three times as much fat. The bottom line is advertising to these unhealthy restaurants is only drawing more customers in, and with an overall unhealthy menu, it becomes difficult to make healthy food choices at these restaurants. With the adverse effects of obesity, this epidemic must be eradicated. This issue is not only causing problems in this day and age, but also fifty years from now. With the increase of childhood obesity comes the increase in heart disease, cancer, and diabetes (Wootan). Eating fast food on a regular basis doubles ones risk of developing insulin resistance which heightens the risk of type 2 diabetes (Lee). Journalist Matthew Lee also adds that the number of people worldwide living with diabetes has more than doubled since 1980, from 153 million then to nearly 350 million in 2011 (Lee). Advertising to these companies is only causing more harm than not. Not only are children suffering from the effects of the unhealthy food items, but the government is also being hit hard. An estimated $2 billion a year is being spent towards these advertisements. In addition to this, in the US alone spent over $300 billion due to the amount of obesity related disease and illness in 2014. If this trend continues to grow and changes are not made in areas such as fast food advertising, experts expect the obesity rate to possibly reach 50 percent by 2030 (TFAH). Still, people question whether or not fast food advertising is actually a large enough issue to be concerned about. They argue that since 2012, TV ads viewed by older children had declined 10% (Yale Rudd Center). Although this decline may apply to the older children, still, young children face the most issues concerning these advertisements. A reason the correlation between these advertisements and older children has decreased is that at a an older age, children start to gain knowledge about the difference between advertisements and television programs. Younger children do not yet have the ability to do that, therefore, they are left with a greater effect from the advertisements and a lack of knowledge pertaining to the them. In 2012 alone, a staggering 16-18% of children were obese (Schwarz). Over the past thirty years, the percentage of the juvenile population designated as obese has more than tripled (Thompson, CDC). Not to mention, these numbers are still growing, rapidly. Companies and families all around the world have tried taking actions to reverse this trend, but nothing has been enough to put an end to it. With the elimination of fast food advertisements targeted towards young children, this trend could potentially be eradicated. Nearly all fast food advertisements are targeted to children, being aired on channels such as Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney XD, and Nicktoons (Bernhardt AM). In addition, images of food packaging are present in 88 percent of advertisements aimed at children, compared with 23 percent of advertisements targeting adults (Bernhardt). Since 98% of these fast food advertisements are showing unhealthy menu items, advertising for fast food companies should be completely eliminated. Obesity and overweight together are the second leading cause of preventable death in the United States (National Institution of Health). With this epidemic only increasing, billions of dollars per year should not be going towards something that persuades children to continue bad eating habits. Rather than promoting food items that will increase this issue, fast food companies should, instead, be finding ways to prevent the spread of this on going problem. It is said that more than 300,000 deaths per year are due to the obesity epidemic and with the continuation of the trend, by 2025, it is estimated that this number will only double (National Institution of Health). Fast food advertising needs to be eliminate in order to help reverse and potential eradicate this on-going epidemic that the United States has severely suffered from.

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