...Title Fast-Food Restaurant Advertising on Television and Its Influence on Childhood Obesity Author Shin-Yi Chou, Lehigh University and National Bureau of Economic Research Inas Rashad, Georgia State University Michael Grossman, City University of New York Graduate Center and National Bureau of Economic Research Introduction Childhood obesity around the world, and particularly in the United States, is an escalating problem that has received much attention of late. In less than thirty years, the prevalence of overweight children and adolescents in America has more than doubled. In the 1963-1970 period, 4 percent of children aged 6 to 11 years and 5 percent of adolescents aged 12 to 19 were defined as being overweight. The percentage of children who are overweight has more than tripled by 1999, reaching 13 percent. For adolescents, the incidence of overweight has nearly tripled in the same period, reaching 14 percent (Centers for Disease Control 2001). Finding the causes of this dramatic increase in obesity among children and adolescents is an important input in designing prevention policies. On the simplest level, weight gain is caused by more energy intake than energy expenditure over a long period of time. The problem of energy imbalance is not purely due to genetics, since our genes have not changed substantially during the past two decades. Researchers have tended to focus on environmental factors such as the availability of highly palatable and calorie-dense fast food...
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...Advertising and Childhood Obesity 1 The Link Between Advertising and Manufacturing Tactics and Childhood Obesity Author School Name Advertising and Childhood Obesity 2 Childhood obesity has become an epidemic in the United States, thanks in part to fast food advertising and manufacturing tactics, and this has resulted in more children diagnosed with diabetes, high cholesterol and long term psychological problems. Humans have continually adapted to the ever-changing variables in our environment. One of the most vital of these variables is food. Long ago, the frequency and quantity of our food intake were directly dependent on what we could hunt or forage. Today, in most first world countries, food is no longer a precious commodity to be saved and stored. Fast and convenient foods are never more than a few minutes away. These low-hanging fruits are in fact, far from being simple fruits. They are cheap, tasty, addictive, processed and nutritionally devoid - and they are being marketed directly to children. It's these advertising and manufacturing techniques that are largely contributing to the epidemic of childhood obesity here in the United States. A disturbingly high number of children are being diagnosed with a host of food-related problems such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and long term psychological issues. Thanks in part to the highly effective advertising and manufacturing tactics used by fast food giants, American fast food culture has spread...
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...The Impact of Television Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity Lara Klein Abstract Childhood obesity is a growing problem around the world, especially in the United State that is notably harmful as its effects are not only temporary but can have long term effects that can be taken into adulthood. Children’s food preferences are influenced by television advertising that focuses directly at children. It is furthermore concluded that children exposed to high amounts of television advertisements make poor food choices which leads to poor food consumption. Among other factors, parental influence is also critical and can change a child’s behavior towards food advertisement and food choices. Parents should look out to communicate advertisements’ effects to their children, and restrict the amount of time their children spend in front of the television. Moreover, governmental restrictions should be implemented to avoid persuasion of buying unhealthy foods to children at younger ages. The Impact of Television Food Advertising on Childhood Obesity INTRODUCTION According to Bacardi-Gascon and Jimenez-Cruz (2015), childhood obesity is a very serious topic in the United States these days, causing long term economic and social costs due to serious health problems, as well as an increase in morbidity and mortality. Research conducted by Bernhardt, Wilking, Gilbert-Diamond, Emond and Sargent has shown that the more television children watch, the likelihood that they are obese increases...
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...Do parents need to take control of childhood obesity? Looking at Childhood Obesity Statistics and Various Causes RJ Mcckleene Western Governors University WGU Student ID# 109456 Do parents need to take control of childhood obesity? Childhood obesity has been increasing over the last 2-3 decades at an alarming rate. The U.S. Surgeon General says that in the last two decades the percentages of overweight children has tripled (“Surgeon General’s call”, 2012). Being obese can affect more than just health. For a child, being obese can cause physical, social, and psychological damage, and can ultimately affect the child’s overall quality of life which can follow the child into adulthood (Maziak, Ward, & Stockton, 2007). The food industry has not made significant improvements to production or food marketing toward children. Therefore parents must take control of childhood obesity to help with a better future for America’s youth. Research suggests that childhood obesity rates will continue to rise because children are targeted by marketing strategies, the food industry is not showing signs that substantial changes to marketing and production targeting youth that are needed will happen any time in the near future and also because the evolution of society has aided in creating a sedentary lifestyle. Health and government officials have seen alarming statics in the increase of childhood obesity rates. The increase and health concerns have had severe enough increases...
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...Childhood Obesity Fast food restaurants should be required to provide or offer healthy alternatives for their kid’s meals. Having healthy alternatives for children’s meals would allow them to receive a nutritionally balanced meal even when it is necessary to dine out. Childhood obesity is becoming prevalent in today’s world and society needs to start taking some responsibility; starting with what foods that are offered when having to dine away from the home. Eating habits begin at a very young age. If healthy alternatives were available in all kids’ meals in fast food restaurants, parents would be at ease when ordering the kids meals for their child(ren). Growing up as an overweight child can lead you to wonder if even small differences in menu selection could make a difference in the decisions you make when choosing to dine out even as an adult. In this paper I am hoping to show the importance of providing a nutritionally healthy meal to children to provide for a healthier future. Dining out is becoming routine in today’s fast-paced world; the convenience of fast-food makes it hard to pass up on a busy day, but at what cost are people willing to sacrifice nutrition for convenience. The childhood obesity rate is almost 15% in the United States (Tom Harkin 2008). Childhood obesity puts children at a grave risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other health related issues that can affect their lives as an adult. Small changes in how fast-food restaurants market their children’s...
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...English 101 2 May 2012 Childhood Obesity on the Rise Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in the world, and is showing no sign of slowing down. Obesity is a vicious cycle that starts with simply carrying an extra five or ten pounds and leads to obesity in no time. There is less of an urge to go out and get in shape. People see it and want it, but aren’t taking the right steps to do so. With the growing attraction for television, video games, and computer use combined with the easy capability to get highly fattening foods in a quick low price, it looks like it’s going to be a problem for a long time to come. This fast food problem has become an accepted means of a meal. In his book True Enough, Farhad Manjoo examines the Committee on Food Habits and their research on how Americans think about food. Manjoo states that, “even for something as fundamental as eating, people look to others to determine the reality around them. You eat to live, but what you eat is more a cultural choice than a mere act of biological survival” (49). There is a big controversy over whether or not obesity is a genetic disease. That debate gets more and more intense as the rates of childhood obesity rise. Some people believe it is a disease because it comes genetically for biological reasons. Other people believe it is not a disease at all, rather it is a chosen lifestyle combined with bad eating habits and the environment for which they live in. I believe that childhood obesity is caused by a variety...
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...Childhood Obesity Kendall Stubbs Western Governors University WGU Student ID #428887 Childhood Obesity Weight in children is a critical well-being issue in the United States. The overall life expectancy of Americans is declining for the first time in many years. Changes need to be made inside the home, in order for this issue to be resolved. The number of overweight adolescents has tripled subsequent to 1980, and the commonness among more youthful children has doubled. Looking at long term outcomes, overweight teenagers and children have a seventy percent possibility of becoming overweight or obese adults (Bishop, 2005). Childhood obesity has been one of the fastest emerging public health issues in the United States over the last few years. It is becoming a big problem and an important issue for a variety of reasons. To begin, there is a general lack of exercise due to technology; advertising and commercials for unhealthy foods that focus on children. Because fast food is cheaper and more convenient than eating healthy, it is becoming a more acceptable option for Americans today. Parental influence, along with the examples that they set for their children is another major concern to childhood obesity. Childhood obesity, television time, video games, and internet usage are undeniably related. Children spend approximately seven and a half hours per day with media. Four and a half hours of this time is spent watching television (Wethington 2007). There was...
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...their advertisements. The fast food industry excels at this strategy. They have identified their target customers as children, and they know how to construct advertisements to directly cater to their wants. Toys and colorful characters, like Ronald McDonald, make the unhealthy products that this industry is selling look attractive to children; the message is not what it purports to be. Due to the naive minds of children, advertising towards children has become a big problem for our nation. There is no doubt that the fast food industry has played a big part in our nation’s growing obesity epidemic, which will continue to grow if these companies are allowed to continue their successful strategies. These companies have been impugned. Through the inventions of the Internet and cell phones, there will only be more ways for fast food companies to reach out to children. The government should push to censor more minutes of fast food advertisements on kids’ television networks, regulate the number of advertisements that appear online on kids’ websites, and stop companies from targeting low class minorities who may not have a parent available to teach them healthy eating habits. Also, parents who are able to should take responsibility and show their children healthy eating habits, and limit time spent watching television. Obesity is a danger to children, due to the fact that it will be referenced many times when the topic of fast food advertising towards children is discussed...
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...high. Obesity has been described as an epidemic and the government is finally starting to take a role in preventing it. A recent research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that thirty-three states had a prevalence of obesity less than or equal to 20% and nine a prevalence equal to or greater than 30%. Concerns have raised due to the fact that obesity is one the major factors of many diseases, including cardiovascular disease, certain types of cancer and type II diabetes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2010). People don’t usually consider this issue although they should, the fact that this isn’t important for most Americans should be a concern because anybody could be at risk. One of the major reasons argued to contribute to obesity is advertising. Advertising is extremely influential in American culture and goes beyond television. Fast food industries usually use television, banners, radio advertisements and different media to sell their products. However, how advertising of food contributes to the epidemic of obesity is still a dispute. A recent systematic research that compared television food advertising to children in different countries showed that marketing generates positive beliefs about advertised foods and influences children’s food preferences, purchase request and consumption (Television Food Advertising to Children: A Global Perspective, 2010). This means that even though the reasons of how advertising affects...
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...Running head: Childhood Obesity in America: A Super-sized Problem That Plagues Our Society 1 Childhood Obesity in America: A Super-sized Problem That Plagues Our Society Elizabeth Widmeyer Western Governors University Childhood Obesity in America: A Super-sized Problem That Plagues Our Society 2 Childhood Obesity in America: A Super-sized Problem That Plagues Our Society Childhood obesity is a growing epidemic in America's society that is having an astronomical impact on the health of our children and our health care system. But, what exactly does it mean to label a child obese? According to Mayo Clinic (2014) “Obesity is a complex disorder involving an excessive amount of body fat.” Body fat is measured using the body mass index (BMI). A child's BMI is calculated by dividing their height by their weight. The calculation would then be graphed with their age in months to determine their growth percentile (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2001). A child is considered obese if they are in the 95th percentile or higher . A child who falls in the 85th - 95th is considered overweight and is at risk of becoming obese (KidsHealth, n.d.). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014) there are 12.5 million Americans between the ages of 2 to 19 that are obese. Race, physical activity level and eating habits are three main components that can lead to obesity in children. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services...
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...Responsibility: Childhood Obesity Name Here Devry University Parental Responsibility: Childhood Obesity Obesity causes approximately 300,000 preventable deaths that come with an annual price tag of 161.3 billion dollars a year (Hojjat, 2015). Childhood obesity has become a worldwide epidemic that is leading to a multitude of severe health and emotional problems in children. As this epidemic has progressed, society has gone through many changes that have brought about new acceptable behaviors. These changes include an increase in single parent households and/or both parents requiring working outside the home. In return, 680 billion dollars a year are spent on meals purchased from fast food restaurants, resulting in higher caloric intakes ("America's Best & Worst Fast Food," 2014). Schools have faced budget cuts affecting their physical fitness and food and nutritional programs. Children's entertainment has moved indoors in front of the television, computer, and video games, decreasing physical activity contributing to obesity. For the first time in modern American history, today's children may be the first generation to live a shorter life than the previous generations (Hojjat, 2015). In addition, it is important to keep in mind that complications from can obesity can also decrease a child's quality of life. Figure 1&2. ("NSCH 2011/12:Weight status of children based on Body Mass Index for age BMI-for-age, Nationwide") There has been a rise in childhood obesity over the...
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...Negative Impacts of Fast Food America is one the countries that have the most oversize population in the world and every day one of four Americans visits fast food restaurants. Fast food is usually packed with fat, sugar and salt which make it so unhealthy. There are many different reasons people go to fast food restaurants rather than eating at home. People eat at fast food restaurant because it is convenient, cheap, tasty and quick. We no longer live in the good old days when women would stay home to cook, clean, and take care of the kids. Women have invaded the work industry by taking over jobs that in the past only men would have, and now share those jobs with men. Nowadays, most of the women are really busy to go for grocery shopping, come back home, unpack the food, and then cook it; so they prefer to go to fast food restaurant like McDonald’s. Many families are choosing fast food restaurants instead of fancy restaurants in this bad economy situation, because fancy restaurants charge much more money than fast food and people would rather eat at those places with family only on special occasions. However parents know that the fast food doesn’t have good nutrition balance for their children. In addition, some people who don’t have families and they live by themselves visit fast food because of their busy schedule. They are too busy to cook. In conservation with one of the poll on mid March, she says that she works full time and she goes to school part time, so she doesn’t...
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...Childhood Obesity David Sholl Western Governors University Task 3 Childhood Obesity Part A: Description of the Problem The primary focus of the literature review will be childhood obesity among American children between the ages of five and eighteen years. Most parents are not aware that their children have problems until they become overweight. For instance, in a survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2011, about 49% of American parents believed that their children were of average size. However, after physical examinations, a team of physicians classified them as overweight. Central adiposity is one of the symptoms of childhood obesity. Children with excessive accumulation of fat around the abdominal area are either overweight or obese. Inability to cope with abrupt physical activities is another symptom. Numerous studies indicate that overweight children have diminished physical stamina because their bodies carry excess weight. Snoring is the other notable symptom of childhood obesity. As fat accumulates around the neck region, it obstructs the windpipe leading to snoring among children. Childhood obesity is now a pandemic in the U.S, and has become a national health crisis. One in every three children in America aged between two and eighteen years are considered overweight or obese. The life-threatening problems of obesity create a critical and compelling call for action that should not be ignored. According to numerous sources obesity is related...
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...Children and Obesity Sharletta Guy-Pope SOC490: Social Science Capstone Raqota Berger June 18, 2012 Introduction Due to the growing concern and increase prevalence of childhood obesity around the world the population of children as it relates to childhood obesity indicates that these children will suffer even greater as adults. This increasing concern has become a public health issue and a social issue with children. Furthermore, research shows that the media plays an important role in the current epidemic of childhood obesity, which also has become a social issue with children. The increasing amounts of junk food and fast food advertisements, that target children and adolescents, have an effect on the outcome of their health and nutritional habits; these advertisements shift away from good nutritional practices. Food advertisements that advertise unhealthy foods such as foods high in saturated fats and cholesterol (junk foods) puts children at risk for high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol, both of which causes heart disease later on in life, which are precursors of cardiovascular disease resulting in childhood obesity. Sociocultural Factors Gender Society, culture, and the media send children powerful messages about body weight and shape ideals. For girls; ideas that are stressed in the media include the "thin ideal" and urging to diet and exercise, which can put pressure on girls to be thin, putting them...
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...Food product choice can be overwhelming and is not made any easier with the influence of media advertisements by companies that want to sell their food products to us. There are many factors that we as consumers must take in to consideration. Do we accept that the advertisement is true, should we trust what is shown to us or should we research the product and compare the cost and nutritional value to other products on the market? Evidently, it’s up to consumer to make a decision on what they eat, nevertheless if we’re frequently exposed to food advertisements every time we read a glossy magazine or watch TV then we may be influenced in what we choose, especially when the advertisement is directed toward children . In this essay I will outline some influence towards one’s food choices and the links between media and children obesity and the effects television food commercials have on children’s food preferences. Food choices are influenced by vast quantity of interrelating factors and theory “it is not solely determined on physiological or nutritional” (Shepherd, 1999, p. 807). Other factor that may influence food choices are biological for example hunger, appetite and taste and then there economic and physical this may be prejudiced by the cost of the food and a individuals income the availably of food choice or education or the skill needed to cook the food. Psychological reason may have a effect on the food we eat for example what type of mood we in. when a we are stress...
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