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The Marketing of Food to Children

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The Marketing of Food to Children
The Marketing of Food to Children
Bill Cronin
DeVry University

The Marketing of Food to Children
The majority of children today tend to crave more sugary foods, fattier foods and other various unhealthy foods. These cravings are the direct result of marketing these types of foods to children through television commercials with the use of catchy music, cartoons, bright colors, TV actors, and other fictional characters; for example, McDonalds with Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar. They also usually offer toys or prizes with the food to entice children even more like putting a prize in the cereal box or offering a toy with their meal. A majority of these foods that do this are extremely unhealthy for everyone and are known to cause obesity and oral health problems. Therefore, it is imperative if we want to stop the increasing rate of obesity and prevent the early development of oral health problems, then we need to abolish the marketing of unhealthy food to children and reduce children’s ability to obtain these foods when not under a parent’s supervision.
The first and most critical reason to stop the targeting of unhealthy food to children is the impact it has had on the growing rate of obesity and the large majority of kids being considered overweight or obese. In our country the numbers of children who are considered overweight or obese grow every year at an alarming rate. This in hand is cultivating a generation of adults that will be unhealthy and overweight as well. This in turn will be passed down to their children making a legacy of unhealthy habits. However, we must examine the first reason the unhealthy habits develop at such a young age. The answer is quite simple, television. Like any advancement in technology there are always their draw backs. One of the leading drawbacks is advertising. Advertising in short is a quick way to taunt us into spending our hard-earned money on most things we don 't need. The fast food industry has taken this medium



References: Brustein, J. (2011, April 25). McDonald’s Makes Play for Children Online. New York Times. p. 4. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Cinar, A. B., & Murtomaa, H. H. (2009). A holistic food labeling strategy for preventing obesity and dental caries. Obesity Reviews, 10(3), 357-361. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Deforche, B., De Bourdeaudhuij, I., D 'hondt, E., & Cardon, G. (2009). Objectively measured physical activity, physical activity related personality and body mass index in 6- to 10-yr-old children: a cross-sectional study. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition & Physical Activity, 61-9. doi:10.1186/1479-5868-6-25 Nappo-Dattoma, L. (2010). Dietary recommendations and guidelines during growth and development of the pediatric patient and eating patterns affecting oral health. Access, 24(2), 6-10. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. National Heart Alliance (2008). Protecting Children from Marketing of Unhealthy Foods. Retrieved from http://www.childrensfoodcampaign.net/ihf_childrensfoodcampaign.pdf. Story, M. and French, S. (2004, February 10). Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. Retrieved from http://www.ijbnpa.org/content/1/1/3.

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