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It is often said that 'we eat with our eyes' first, and children are no different. When hamburgers are in attractive packaging emblazoned with cartoon characters, children will want to eat the burgers more than broiled chicken and whole wheat pasta. Conversely, Cornell's Center for Behavioral Economics in Child Nutrition Programs found that children eat more fruit when the fruit is displayed in attractive baskets rather than in stainless-steel buckets (Aubrey 2011). However, the presence of fast food offerings is too powerful to resist, even when fruit is present. In my own experience, I notice that when children beg to go to McDonald's, they show no interest in the healthier menu. One study of McDonald's located on hospital premises found: "When apple dippers and milk jugs were on the menu...families rarely ordered them. Apple dippers were purchased by anywhere from 0.3% to 3.6% of kids; milk from 1.1% to 6.6% of the time, depending on the age of the child. Almost no children purchased a yogurt parfait, apple juice or orange juice. On the other hand, French fries, soda, cheeseburgers, apple pie and the Big Mac were the most often-ordered items" (Parikh 2011).
Fast food packs a super-sized marketing advantage: it has both cartoon characters and foods that suit children's preference for sweet, salty...
These tastes imprint upon children early on, and fast food comes to have positive associations that spinach does not. The power of fast food is too great for busy, harried parents -- or baby sitters such as myself -- to resist when children beg for it. Fast food has no redeeming nutritional or social value. Cigarette advertising directed at children is already banned, because children lack the cognitive defenses to emotionally resist ads promoting this deadly product. Advertising promoting fast food should be banned as well.
Works Cited
Aubrey, Alison. "Cheap marketing techniques help kids choose more fruit." NPR.
October 3, 2011. [October 4, 2011] NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/10/03/141003800/cheap-marketing-techniques-help-kids-choose-more-fruit
"Fast food linked to child obesity." CBS. January 1, 2004. [October 4, 2011]
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/05/health/main591325.shtml
Parikh, R. "Why children's hospitals tolerate McDonald's. September 19, 2011. Salon.
[October 4, 2011] http://life.salon.com/2011/09/19/poprx_mcdonalds/
"U.S. Obesity trends." Centers for Disease Control (CDC). [October 4, 2011]
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html
Works Cited
Aubrey, Alison. "Cheap marketing techniques help kids choose more fruit." NPR.
October 3, 2011. [October 4, 2011] NPR. http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/10/03/141003800/cheap-marketing-techniques-help-kids-choose-more-fruit
"Fast food linked to child obesity." CBS. January 1, 2004. [October 4, 2011]
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/05/health/main591325.shtml
[October 4, 2011] http://life.salon.com/2011/09/19/poprx_mcdonalds/
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html
Trusted Friends Fast Food Nation: Chapter 2 review "Your trusted friends" (31-59) One of the most striking aspects of McDonald's is the way in which it markets itself as a 'friendly' organization committed to family values, even while it sells food that is blatantly unhealthy and damaging to consumers' health. The Happy Meals it promotes to children have an innocent quality, even while the food is carefully engineered so that it
Childhood Obesity and Fast Food Inductive Reasoning Empirical Research Applied Research Quantitative Research Qualitative Research Exploratory Research Focus Groups Participants The paper is a research based on the topic of "The influence of fast food on child obesity." The study aims to evaluate and identify the root cause of child obesity. The study is based on a scientific approach by developing a hypothesis and then proving it through data collected. Inductive Reasoning: The hypothesis of this research has been developed
Fast Food and Child Obesity Jonathan Kwan This study identifies the underlying correlation of fast food consumption and the increasing rate of child obesity. The system of fast food is prevalent in all countries, with each country having its own variations of types of items served and the nature of establishments serving. The popularity of fast food is due to the convenience of fast service, packaged food and low cost. Now
Fast food is a phenomenon that has become part of the American way of life during the past few decades. However the convenience of fast foods has resulted in major health issues in the country, as well as in the rest of the world. The prevalence of fast food in American society is evident from the fact that "Americans now spend more money on fast food than they do on
, Leung, R., Manios, Y., Monteiro, R., Pedley, C., Prell, H., Raine, K., Recine, E., Serra-Majem, L., Singh, S., & Summerbell, C.. (2010). Television Food Advertising to Children: A Global Perspective. American Journal of Public Health, 100(9), 1730-6. Li, L., Mei, T., & Hua, X.. (2010). GameSense: game-like in-image advertising. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 49(1), 145-166. McAlister, A., & Cornwell, T.. (2010). Children's brand symbolism understanding: Links to theory of mind and
As expected to prove H3, the fourth graders could recall a median of 6 items about the ad while the first graders recalled a median of 4 items. The ultimate conclusion of the researchers was that children "can recall a reasonable amount of information from a single exposure to a television advertisement and are capable of sharing information accurately" (Maher et al., 2006, p. 30). The authors view their work