Sociology: The Effects Of Unhealthy Eating Epidemics Essay

Abigail Coleman
Dr. Huffer
ENC 1101
24 November 2014
Eating Epidemics: The Effects of Unhealthy Eating Habits on our Culture and how they are Sold to the American Eye Growing up in Asheville, North Carolina, I learned a lot about eating healthily and making wise decisions about food. My parents radically emphasized local and natural options over packaged products. I learned quickly how to read labels and recognize the hidden ingredients that are toxic to my body, and my mom and dad were always making sure that they knew exactly what was in the things that they were feeding us. We kept a small garden and at one point even raised our own meat. Because I have been made painfully aware of the state of the western diet, I have strived to adhere
By linking entertainment with cuisine, marketers have effectively reached the imaginations of children by making the packaging of unhealthy food choices fun and exciting; their favorite superhero or fairytale princess, after all, endorses it. Faith McLellan writes in her article published in the prestigious general medical journal The Lancet, “Although marketing to children has been seen as acceptable only in the past decade or so, corporations have seized the advantage quickly: in 1999 they spent approximately US$12 billion on such efforts. Part of the philosophy now, according to Bob Ahuja, a professor of marketing at Xavier University (Cincinnati, OH), is not to appeal directly to parents, but to teach kids to influence their parents ' purchases” (McLellan, 1001). Marketing experts know the effects of selling their products to children; the budget for it speaks for itself.
Finally, a major aspect of this marketing scheme is found in the perceived ethical and economical promoting of these foods. Food is no longer seen as just a commodity, but a social justice movement; you can make a difference just by purchasing your foods locally. In a social experiment exploring the words that consumers most relate to conducted by Patricia Allen of the University of California and Phillip H. Howard of Michigan State University, the pair
Multilevel logistic regression indicated that local was preferred by rural residents, and that humane was preferred by frequent organic consumers and high-income households. Survey respondents also chose product labels more frequently than other potential sources of information about their food. Preferences for local and humane ecolabel criteria should be placed in perspective, as consumers expressed much higher levels of interest in the more individualized concerns of safety and nutrition. The results suggest, however, that consumers are interested in a food system that addresses broader political and ethical values, which has implications for production, marketing, and movement building for sustainable food systems (Howard and Allen, 244). ‘Local’ and ‘humane’ have taken on health-conscious connotations, which may not always be the case. An interest in locality and ethical food choices is encouraging, yet more often than not local farmers are bullied by the corporations that they sell to, being forced to farm regulations that may not be healthy for the soil, produce, or livestock, and many times leave the farmers with unfair wages and outrageous production