Childhood Obesity
“Childhood Obesity” Does the Media Play a Big Role?
Charlotte Sandstrom
Ashford University
06/01/2012
ENG 122
Instructor Dr. Marsha Beckwith-Howard
The nature of childhood obesity is growing at a fast rate since two decades ago. People are finding more and more children at risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes since the media has focused on children eating more sugar and fast food in their diets. However, media is sending subliminal messages to kids through commercial and tricking them to convince parents to buy bad junk food. Therefore, Parents need to regulate how much television and fatty food their children watch and eat. Since children are watching too much television and not exercising; they are being tricked to eat unhealthy and become obese. “Reducing food marketing to children has been proposed as one means for addressing the global crisis of childhood obesity, but significant social, legal, financial, and public perception barriers stand in the way. The scientific literature documents that food marketing to children is (a) massive; (b) expanding in number of venues (product placements, video games, the Internet, cell phones, etc.); (c) composed almost entirely of messages for nutrient-poor, calorie-dense foods; (d) having harmful effects; and (e) increasingly global and hence difficult to regulate by individual countries.” (Harris, 2009) Fast food chains are sending subliminal messages in commercials and online games intended for children to eat their food and convince the children’s parents to buy it for them. Therefore, the media needs to get more boundaries on how much soliciting they can do to our children these days. There should be laws against letting the media send messages through commercials and gaming so they can have a chance as adults to be healthy. Another way the companies trick our children is through food stylist. The companies hire food stylist to make their food and burgers look perfect
Charlotte Sandstrom
Ashford University
06/01/2012
ENG 122
Instructor Dr. Marsha Beckwith-Howard
The nature of childhood obesity is growing at a fast rate since two decades ago. People are finding more and more children at risk of cardiovascular diseases and diabetes since the media has focused on children eating more sugar and fast food in their diets. However, media is sending subliminal messages to kids through commercial and tricking them to convince parents to buy bad junk food. Therefore, Parents need to regulate how much television and fatty food their children watch and eat. Since children are watching too much television and not exercising; they are being tricked to eat unhealthy and become obese. “Reducing food marketing to children has been proposed as one means for addressing the global crisis of childhood obesity, but significant social, legal, financial, and public perception barriers stand in the way. The scientific literature documents that food marketing to children is (a) massive; (b) expanding in number of venues (product placements, video games, the Internet, cell phones, etc.); (c) composed almost entirely of messages for nutrient-poor, calorie-dense foods; (d) having harmful effects; and (e) increasingly global and hence difficult to regulate by individual countries.” (Harris, 2009) Fast food chains are sending subliminal messages in commercials and online games intended for children to eat their food and convince the children’s parents to buy it for them. Therefore, the media needs to get more boundaries on how much soliciting they can do to our children these days. There should be laws against letting the media send messages through commercials and gaming so they can have a chance as adults to be healthy. Another way the companies trick our children is through food stylist. The companies hire food stylist to make their food and burgers look perfect
References: American Psychological Association (2012) Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/topics/kids-media/food.aspx AR Journals Annual Reviews (2009) Retrieved from http://arjournals.annualreviews.org/doi/abs Chicago Tribune (Febuary 5, 2012) http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb Golan, M Kaufman V, Shahar DR. (May, 2006) Retrieved from http://ncbi.nlm.nib.gov Gwozdz, W.& Eisch, L.A.R. (2011) Instruments for analyzing the influence of advertising on children’s food choices. (p.35) Retrieved from http://www.nature.com/ijo/journal/v27/abs Public Broadcasting Station (2004) Retrieved from http://www.Pbskids.org/dontbuyit Witt, G.A., & Mossler, R. A. (2010). Adult development and lifeAssessment.(p.46) Retrieved from http://content.ashford.edu/edu/books/4/section10.2