One of the Major Health Problems - Essay Example

Ethics and ethics behind the marketing aimed at children One of the major health problems facing by many Americansat present is obesity or overweight. Obesity makes Americans life span shorter and shorter. Obesity problems are not limited to America alone. In fact all major developing and developed countries are facing this problem. In China, heart diseases high blood pressure and diabetes and are the major reason why so many Chinese leave world at a young age. On the other hand in Korea, stomach cancer is the major reason for the untimely death of people. All these diseases are connected obesity in one way or another. It is often argued that obesity is strongly associated with fast food. Irrespective of young or adult, fast food is getting more popularity among people all over the world. “A new study shows that toxicperfluoroalkyls, which are used in surface protection treatments and coatings to keep grease from leaking through fast food wrappers, are being ingested by people through their food and showing up as contaminants in blood” (Mercola). Above all, it is an accepted fact that fast food contains more fat contents than any other foods. Therefore, the logic of using fast food on a regular basis is highly debatable. Food is necessary for the sustainment of human life. At the same time, over food and limited food or lack of food are equally responsible for causing health problems. Moreover, modern farming methods are not so good for keeping the health of people. In order to increase the yield, farmers all over the world are using huge amounts of fertilizers, chemicals, and pesticides in their agricultural lands. Crops or food grains developed as a result of such unhealthy farming methods are causing huge health problems in many ways. Above all, increased use of fertilizers chemicals and pesticides is causing huge pollutions to air, land and water. In other words, improper farming methods have the ability to cause multiple problems to all living things in this world, including human beings. Genetically modified food or GM food is a new concept in the farming field. Genetically modified foods are capable of providing more yields. However, the safety of using such foods is still unclear or debateable. Organic food is one of the most modern concepts developed in the farming field in order to eliminate all the concerns explained above. “The foods that are cultivated without using any chemical fertilizers and pesticides, processed without adding any of the artificial ingredients and packaged using natural means can be referred as organic foods” (Iloveindia.com). Even though the support for organic food is growing day by day, some people still have doubts about its benefits. According to Novella, “on the basis of a systematic review of studies of satisfactory quality, there is no evidence of a difference in nutrient quality between organically and conventionally produced foodstuffs. The small differences in nutrient content detected are biologically plausible and mostly relate to differences in production methods”. In short, the debate about the benefits and problems associated with different types of food is still going on. The concerns about what to eat and what to drink are growing even among the adult people. At the same time, fast food companies and restaurants are exploiting these opportunities. Fast food companies are targeting children more and more with the help of advertisements and sales promotion campaigns aimed at children. Even adults are finding it difficult to identify what is good food and what is bad food. This paper addresses all these concerns and argues in favour of organic foods The fight against fast food habits or junk food habits is growing in countries like America. In fact fast food industry is doing everything possible to attract more consumers. “Working under the radar, restaurant lobbyists have persuaded state lawmakers in Florida and Arizona to ban local governments from outlawing giveaways of toys with high-calorie childrens meals. A proposed ban in Nebraska died before its first hearing”(Bernstein). Fast food companies in America are targeting the teenagers and children. They know very well that teenagers and children are people who give more importance to taste rather than nutrition while taking foods. “A group of public health advocates — including obesity experts at Tufts University, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Chicago Hispanic Health Coalition — is running full-page ads in several newspapers this week calling for McDonalds to stop marketing to children and to retire its mascot clown, Ronald McDonald” (Bernstein). Children do not have the maturity to take sound decisions about their food. They usually give more importance to the freebies and complements. McDonalds is trying to capitalize on it. McDonalds such marketing campaigns are definitely unethical since they are using unhealthy means to market their products. “A team of public health researchers from Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity spent more than a year compiling data on 12 of the nation’s big fast-food restaurants, and what they found surprised even them: despite industry efforts to reduce marketing aimed at children, fast-food advertising geared toward 2-to-18-year-olds increased” (Melnick). Fast food industry in the US is a billion dollar industry. It is growing rapidly every year despite the efforts of the government and healthcare professionals to empower the public regarding the dangers associated with fast food habits. “The U.S. fast-food market has grown faster than most other segments of away-from-home foods for most of the past two decades. In 2003, the fast-food market grew 2.6% to reach $148.6 billion in sales” (Grier et al., p.223). According to Melnick, one-third of American children and teens consume fast food at least once a week, and 16% to 17% of adolescents’ caloric intake came from fast food restaurants. From the above statistics, it is evident that children are more vulnerable to the temptations for taking fast food. Fast food industry knows this vulnerability and concentrates more on making ads targeting the children. “The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is now looking into designating children as a “protected” group in order to shield them from advertising of unhealthy foods” (Melnick). However it will be difficult to shield children effectively from such ads. Majority of the modern children have the habit of taking foods while watching television programs. They watch television programs aimed at them as well as aimed at adults. It is possible for FTC cannot ban television ads that are placed in between the time slots of programs aimed at children. However, it is impossible for FTC to ban commercials that are appearing along with the programs aimed at adults. Moreover, modern children get more information about food items from their friends in schools. In other words, Word of Mouth or WOM is an extremely effective marketing channel among children. Fast food companies can use this channel effectively to promote their products among children. FTC or any other agency cannot ban such marketing channels. If one would avoid fast food, he can think about traditional foods. However, the safety of using traditional food is also questioned by many. Farmers are using increased amount of fertilizers and chemicals in order to increase the yield from food grains. As a result of that majority of the food items we receive from agricultural lands are enriched with fertilizers, chemicals and pesticides rather than nutrition and taste. Moreover, increased use of fertilizers and chemicals in the farming lands would cause air pollution, water pollution and land pollution. The toxic gases coming out from the fertilizers and chemicals have the ability to cause atmospheric pollution. Moreover, these things will flow through the land on rainy days and reach rivers and streams and thereby cause water pollution and land pollution. In short, modern farming methods using fertilizers and chemicals are causing many problems to the people. Therefore, the questions such as what to eat and how to cultivate are relevant in the present world. In order to answer the above questions, organic farming methods are suggested by many. “Organic foods are those foods that are produced, processed and packaged without using chemicals” (Iloveindia.com). Only environmental friendly fertilizers or bio fertilizers will be used in the organic farming methods. Moreover, governmental agencies will monitor such farming methods, in order give certificate to the products developed from such methods. Therefore, people can trust organic foods. It is often said that an average apple consists of over 30 pesticides even after vigorous washing. This is because of the extensive usage of pesticides at the time farming as well as after reaping the harvest. While producing apple using organic farming methods, consumers can eat it even without washing. At the same time, because of the avoidance of dangerous fertilizers and chemicals at the time of cultivation, organic food yield may be less compared to other type of food production. As a result of that, organic food items are costlier than conventional food items. However, one can trust these food items more compared to the food items produced by other methods. Those who use organic foods can reduce their hospital expenditure even though they have to spend a little bit more for the purchasing of these food items. The money earned through the hospital expense reduction will be much more than the money spent for purchasing organic foods. To conclude, it is necessary to ban marketing campaign targeted at children. Children do not have the maturity to take rational decisions. Exploitation of such disabilities of children cannot be encouraged under any circumstances. Of course food habits are personal things. However, it became personal only when the person became an adult. The future of any nation rests on the shoulders of Children. A healthy future generation will be an asset whereas an unhealthy future generation will be a burden for a country. Therefore, it is the responsibility of a nation to protect the health of its upcoming generation using all possible means. Organic food seems to be the best available food items at present in the world. These food items are highly nutritious and much tastier than conventional food items. Moreover, these food items have the ability to reduce water, air and land pollutions and thereby protect the environment. While using fast foods, and conventional foods, the chances of developing health problems are more. Obesity, high blood pressure, coronary problems, diabetes etc are some of the health problems associated with fast food and conventional food habits. On the other hand, organic food seems to be free of these threats. Work Cited Bernstein, Sharon. “Fast-food industry is quietly defeating Happy Meal bans.” Los Angeles Times. May 18, 2011. Print Grier, S.A., Mensinger, J., Huang, S.H., Kumanyika, S.K. and Stettler, N. Fast-Food Marketing and Children’s Fast-Food Consumption: Exploring Parents’ Influences in an Ethnically Diverse Sample 2007, Journal of Public Policy & Marketing Vol. 26 (2) Fall 2007, 221–235. Print Iloveindia.com. “Organic Food Facts”. Web. 04 December 2014 Melnick, Meredith. “Study: Fast-Food Ads Target Kids with Unhealthy Food, and It Works.” Time. Monday, November 8, 2010. Print Mercola, Joseph. “What Is in Fast Food? A Newly Discovered Reason to Avoid Fast Food.” Huffington Post. December 29, 2010. Print Iloveindia.com. “Organic Food Facts”. Web. 04 December 2014 Novella, Steven. “Is Organic Food More Healthful?”. Web. 04 December 2014 Read More