The Impact of Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity Essay Sample

Food advertisements are placed along the margins of websites and placed before videos causing viewers to want what's being hung in front of their face.Children are constantly watching tv, playing phone games or scrolling through youtube looking for a video to watch; in result to these actions food advertisements are plastered or placed strategically online.Thus grasping the attention of children, affecting their food preferences which leads to obesity and picky eaters. Fast Food resturant’s target audiences are children.They target them by making their commercial advertisements bright , filled with simple words that are bolded so kids can read them. Fast food advertisements also put out commercials solely based on the toys that come in the meals to make kids more interested, leading them to beg their parents to buy them the meal.

Obesity in children is seen to be a major problem in America; notably food advertising make children want to eat their products due to the advertisement looking exciting and intriguing 

One article stated “Children are exposed to a high volume of marketing and advertising, a substantial proportion of which is for unhealthy foods''(Russell 554).The food that is being viewed by children is high in calories but low in nutrients. It's rare that healthy foods are being advertised to a younger audience. The healthy foods that are out there , their advertisement isn’t as amusing as the unhealthy foods. Advergames that are put into computer games also show unhealthy foods leading to children taking in high calories. A study by Pediatric Diabetes showed that  “After playing the unhealthy advergame, children increased their intake by 56% (77 kcal) compared with the healthy advergame and 16% (25 kcal)”(Boyland 335).So just by children seeing unhealthy foods make them want to intake what they’re seeing or any form of  unhealthy food. Food advertiser companies make children their target because they know that they will consume these foods without thinking about what they are putting into their bodies.

Food advertisements show children a glamorized version of food causing them to become picky eaters when their parents try to give them foods they have never seen.Children have a hard time trying new foods when certain foods like pizza, burgers and nachos are advertised as “yummy” on their favorite shows or games they are playing. An a issue of American Journal of Medical Research they concluded that “Children’s vulnerability to advertising for calorie-dense nutrient-poor foods is related to the entire intake of the junk food categories normally promoted to children, being instrumental in inadequate diet in children in the short-run”(FRECHETTE 246).This shows that children are easy to persuade. When food advertisements affect children by turning them into picky eaters they affect the parents as well. 

Food advertisements make sure that children are their main target. Children are easy to advertise for.The companies who make the advertisements don’t think about the effects that their ads have on children.They turn children obese leading to more issues later on in there lives.Also turning kids into picky eaters effects them because they’ll never want to try new foods.This will effect their parents because if there parents try to fix foods that the child hasn’t seen before they will not want to eat any.