Fast Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US - Research Paper Example

Running Head: ABBREVIATED OF YOUR CHOICE (all caps) < Fast Food Advertising and Marketing Directed at Children and Adolescents in the US > Abstract (Insert Only If Required) Today, with the sort of lifestyle that is being followed by children and adolescents, Obesity is becoming and increasing epidemic. Obesity is becoming a growing concern for families due to the danger of the health crisis faced by children because they are overweight, malnourished and inactive. Fast food companies are attracting customer especially those who are from lower income groups.

They exploit the American perception of ‘Bigger is better’ and show tempting ads that make customers prefer junk food over organic food. Discussion Obesity can be described as the condition whereby an individual’s body fat exceeds considerably. This increase in body fat is detrimental to health and leads to negative implications. Obesity can be measure in numerous ways, however, BMI calculation is the most reliable measure. BMI, Body Mass Index measures the fat in the body. There are a number of health implications and diseases stemming from obesity such as diabetes, osteoarthritis and cardiovascular diseases.

These diseases are now becoming increasingly pertinent in children and adolescents today like never before. There was campaign initiated by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) which focused on obesity among children and adults. It elaborated over the causes of obesity and campaigned against it while promoting healthy eating lifestyles. As per the survey by CDC, while the increase in obesity among adults in the time span of 2003-2004 to 2005-2006 is approximately 31.1% gone up to 33.3%, there is a shocking increase in the percentage of child adolescents obesity as obesity in children went from 5.0% to 13.9% and obesity in adolescents went from 6.5% to 18.8%.

there are numerous health hazards to childen who become overweight and obese. These implications are pertinent al through their growth period and have effects even when they grow older. Due to the risks of child obesity and their future, there is increasing emphasis over curbing this phenomenon by the CDC. Some of the reasons why there is growing obesity among children and adolscents is their lifestyle of junk food consumption. Fast food companies are showing a growing interest in advertising to children and adolescents.

Due to the cheaper price of junk food as compared to organic food, people often tend to indulge in fast food items. With the mentality of ‘bigger is better’, fast food companies are better able to exploit the weakness of the population through indulgent advertisements and lower prices. The second largest advertiser in the American economy is the U.S. food marketing system which is also the leading supporter of network, spot, and cable television, newspapers, magazines, billboards, and commercial radio.

According to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the rate of increase in obesity in children between the ages of 12-17 is mainly due to the junk food advertisements that they are exposed to. Fast food companies such as McDonalds and Burger King display attractive ads that show irresistibly tempting food that draws the attention of the viewer. Moreover, most advertising is focused on lower income groups that find junk food to be cheaper and more in quantity as opposed to healthy food.

For example, in the link fast food ads vs. reality, they show how the ads differ from the original food and how they attract the attention of the audience through temptation and appeal. (Fast food: Ads vs. Reality) The preset meals for children such as the Happy meal of McDonalds and other kids meal compositions have separate advertisements that are appealing to children. These ads target the children directly and with the help of goodies and gifts for children they make the meals more appealing.

The toys are often based on the general likings of children. (ImageShack|) The perception of the American population that bigger is better is targeted through majority of the ads by fast food companies. The advertisement of Arby;s that shows two fish burgers for $4 makes it seem that quantity is more than what the customer is paying for (Ryan, 2011). Also, Burger king displays ads that show the huge size of their burgers and entice the gluttonous side of customers through choices of extra meat and apparently lower costs (The Fire Wire).

With the progress of time and the advent of information technology, companies are now moving to online advertising. Fast food companies are reaching children and teenagers through online advertisements. Fast food companies are coming up with creative and witty ads to grab the attention of the adolescents who are now cleverer than children. These ads often have implicit messages but more often than not are creative, original and artistic (Advertolog). The McDonald Ads are more direct and show the irresistible nature of the food.

There is no image; the ad is simple with just bold text. Moreover, there is no logo or name of the company but the color, and the McDonalds fries indicate the name of the company. (McDonalds: Roommate and McDonalds: Tongue) Fast food companies also have promotional activities to attract youngsters and motivate them into participating in activities in order to indulge them into the consumption of the food. For example, Wendy’s allowed free music download with the entry of a cup code. This ad not only engaged the target audience but also increased the sale of the Wendy’s meals (Wendy’s “YOU DESERVE A HOT JUICY BURGER”) There is a plethora of competitive advertising among fast food giants, especially McDonalds and burger king.

They try to capture the market share mainly based on price differences and size differences. (Burger King: WHOPPER VS BIG MAC). Fast food companies also reach the teenage customers through product placements in movies and TV shows. Also endorsements with movies promote the fast food company among the target audience. (The Dark Knight Food Promotions) The marketing seems to be working: a whopping 40% of parents reported that their child asked to go to McDonald's at least once a week, and 15% of preschoolers' parents said they fielded such a request every day.

 Most of the parents gave in: 84% reported bringing their 2-to-11-year-olds to a fast food restaurant within the previous week. References . ImageShack, Retreived April 18, 2011 from http://img72.imageshack.us/i/hmwcup2vl.jpg/sr=1 Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality Retrieved April 18, 2011 from http://thewvsr.com/adsvsreality.htm Li, E Fighting obesity in children. Retrieved September 27, 2008, from www.ezinearticles.com Web site: http://ezinearticles.com/?Fighting-Obesity-in-Children&id=1406969 Overweight and obesity.

Retrieved September 27, 2008, from Centers for disease control and prevention Web site: http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/index.htm Advertolog, McDonalds: Tongue Retrieved April 18, 2011 from http://www.advertolog.com/mcdonalds/print-outdoor/tongue-13966855/ Advertolog, McDonalds: Room Mate Retrieved April 18, 2011 from http://www.advertolog.com/mcdonalds/print-outdoor/room-mate-13966805/ Wendy’s “YOU DESERVE A HOT JUICY BURGER” Retrieved April 18, 2011 from http://www.kevinkraftmodeling.

com/Wendys.html Advertolog, Burger King: WHOPPER VS BIG MAC Retrieved April 18, 2011 from http://www.advertolog.com/burger-king/print-outdoor/whopper-vs-big-mac-10913205/ Trend Hunter, The Dark Knight Food Promotions Retrieved April 18, 2011 from http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/the-dark-knight-burger-king-whopper The Fire Wire. Retrieved April 18, 2011 from http://larryfire.wordpress.com/2011/04/13/the-burger-king-meat-monster/ Ryan (2011, January 17). Have seen the new Arby’s Fish commercial?

Retrieved April 18, 2011 from http://www.grubgrade.com/tag/arbys-fish-sandwich-review/