The Connection between Advertising and Childhood Obesity - Research Paper Example

 The Connection between Advertising and Childhood Obesity The population in the United States has a high number of overweight and obese people; previously most of these people were among the middle-aged and the old. However, recent developments have resulted in high rates of obesity among young children, with the number of obese children tripling in the last three decades. Currently, approximately one in three children in the United States is either overweight or obese. This has caused concerns among stakeholders, with various aspects of the society taking the blame for the trend, especially since obesity has negative effects on health, economy, environment and other aspects of the society. Topmost in the list of blames is advertising, where advertisers have taken a lot of criticism and blame from various sectors of society. This study presents the main causes of advertising-related obesity and offers the negative effects of obesity among children in the United States (Ogden et al., 2010). Statement of the Problem In modern days, people have to balance between work, study and family, working extra hard to make ends meet in a deteriorating global economy; schooling to maintain a competitive edge in the job market; and making attempts to take care of their families that are now more demanding than ever. This leaves little or no time for things like cooking, which when coupled with the availability of fast food outlets at every street makes cooking seem to be a hard task. In addition, widespread advertising on available media creates widespread awareness of the available fast foods, and parents opt to buy these foods for their children instead of cooking. On the other hand, advertisements are more available to children, and they are designed in such a way that they are attractive to young children who cannot discern the persuasive nature of advertisement (Ogden, Carroll, and Flegal, 2008). However, advertisers argue against the assertions that advertising results in obesity, stating that there are other contributing factors like the reduction in physical exercises among children due to sedentary lifestyles with limited mobility. Advertisers say this in total disregard to their enticing advertisements that encourage people to consume processed foods, in contrary to the widespread campaigns for people to start consuming healthier foods. Since this debate is likely to go on endlessly, advertisers are more likely to make their wares more appealing and that parents are likely to have less time for cooking, stakeholders should find a way forward to prevent the loss of the nation’s young people to obesity-related diseases (Ebbeling, Pawlak and Ludwig, 2002). Factors Promoting Obesity Economic Factors The economy in the United States has been undergoing changes that have resulted in inflation; since parents have to cater for the needs of their families, they have to work overtime and they have little or no time for family. Preparing homemade food becomes a chore, especially due to the time and financial constraints, and people opt for cheaper options like the readily available fast foods. In addition, acquiring these fast foods has become cheaper than before, making them the easier option for those who do not have the time to prepare other meals. On the other hand, healthier options including low calorie foods are beyond the reach of the poor and lower middle class, resulting in increased rates of obesity among both the young and the old (Chou, Rashad and Grossman, 2008). Technology Developments Technological developments have reduced the costs of producing fast foods, and hence they are more available for consumers at cheaper prices. In addition, the reducing costs of owning information technology tools that have made more people afford televisions and computers have resulted in wide spread exposure of children to food related advertisements. Technological advancements have also made advertisements more effective, and children are enticed and pressurize their parents to buy them the foods they saw in an advert. In addition, advertisers have changed tack and started designing adverts targeted to children, which are highly effective due to the application of technologies in studies that aim to identify the food characteristics that are in most demand. The manufacturers enhance the visual appearance and the taste of these foods such that if a child sees an advert and tries the food, then one is unlikely to resist the food again (Mackett, 2002). Cultural Changes With every passing year, children are becoming more knowledgeable about their rights and choices available for them; this has made children more assertive in their demands for things from their parents. Therefore, this can be partly blamed on the fact that changing cultural perceptions have had a negative effect on children’s health since their parents give them too many options, without considering that the child is likely to pick the appealing option. In addition, the busy lives of parents balancing between work, studies and family leaves a parent feeling that one is not doing enough to cater for children needs. Therefore, a parent feels compelled to give in to a child’s whims to make up for the times the parent has failed in parental duties, which results in widening waistlines of the young ones. Many cultural factors result in increased obesity, but it is in line with cultural beliefs that something or someone has to take the blame; in this case, it is advertising taking the blame for increased obesity (Kulkarni, 2004). Social Factors Many people in the United States society are either overweight or obese, and parents do not feel the need to be concerned when their children are obese; in fact, there is a widespread perception that an obese child is a healthy child. This gives the parents a basis to overfeed their children on junk foods, as no one in society sees anything wrong with being obese. Moreover, many adults these days have turned to using junk foods due to the factors given above and children just consume what their parents are consuming. Moreover, society has encouraged children to consume larger portions of food, which is aggravating an already grim situation. Finally, the increase in the involvement of women in the workforce keeps them busy such that they do not have time to make healthy meals for their children (Zywicki, Holt and Ohlhausen, 2004). Negative Effects of Obesity Obesity has a significant impact on health and social life of children, has negative effects on the environment and is not sustainable. Effects on Child Health is the principal victim of obesity, where it is associated with many disease conditions including diabetes, organ failure and circulatory diseases among others, in addition to compromising their immunity, and predisposing children to a myriad other opportunistic conditions. Obesity reduces the self-esteem and self-worth of a child such that one sees oneself not worth of interacting with others, as evident by the lone nature of obese children who tend to keep to themselves. This has effects on all aspects of a child’s life, usually characterized by poor performance in school and antisocial behavior, which may be a child’s way of expressing oneself. In addition, obese children tend to eat a lot especially when under stress, which makes their obesity situation even worse (Zywicki, Holt and Ohlhausen, 2004). Effects on the Environment Fast foods are processed in industries, and since industries are still dependent on fossil fuels, this results in increased release of greenhouse gases that are the chief agents of global warming. Since there is a high demand for processed foods by people of all ages, the environment is on the receiving end, and pollution occurs in an increased rate than if non-processed foods were consumed in larger quantities. In addition, these foods are packaged in synthetic non-biodegradable wrappers that pollute the environment when discarded, and destroy the ozone layer when burnt (Zywicki, Holt and Ohlhausen, 2004). Sustainability Consumption of processed foods is unsustainable due to its effects on the environment and health, as when these effects reach extreme levels, people will have no option than to look for alternatives. For instance, it is widely known that junk foods cause obesity and related ailments, but people still consume them; however, there will be a time in the future when the consumption of these foods will be discouraged due to these effects. In addition, unless renewable sources of fuel are adopted for the industry, then it is likely to suffer from the negative effects of rising costs of fuel, as well as criticism due to its contribution in environmental degradation. These factors may result in the collapse of the industry in the long run, which will amount to losses for investors who have put their money on this booming but unsustainable industry (Pratt, Stevens and Daniels 2008). Discussion Many studies have shown a link between obesity and the hours a child spends watching TV; however, these studies have not been able to create a direct link between food advertisement and obesity. Most researchers agree that advert-related obesity may be due to a change in one of the following factors: An increase in the number of hours that children watch television, exposing them to more advertisement even though the intensity of advertisement has not changed over the years An increase in the number of television time dedicated to food advertisements increases exposure though television-viewing time does not change Increased efficiency of food advertisements, such that the advertisements have become more convincing, and parents have to give in to their children’s demands Television Watching Time Empirical evidence has shown that there has been no significant change in the time that children spend watching television; in fact, the recent years have seen a reduction in time spent watching television due to the emergence of other preferable entertainment technologies. This means that children are not obese due to increased use of television, maybe due to other factors (Hoek and Gendall, 2006). Television Time Dedicated To Food Advertisement Further analysis of the link between advertisement and obesity showed that there has no significant increase in the time dedicated to advertising; there may be increased variety due to competition, but the time for food advertisement remains relatively low. Moreover, studies show that adverts for healthier alternatives have surfaced and taken some of the television time that could have been used for fast food advertisements. There is no denying that more children are getting obese each day, but since there has been no change in the content or amount of advertising, studies had to take an additional angle of perspective in order to determine the truth about the obesity problem (Hoek and Gendall, 2006). Food Advertisement Efficiency Other studies have assumed that adverts are nowadays more convincing, and children cannot resist them and they ask their parents to buy them fast foods. This is based on the assumption that parents nowadays have a higher propensity to giving in to children’s demands, since the content and amount of advertisements have not changed much over the years. However, before making this conclusion, researchers compared the rate of increase in children obesity to that of adults over the recent years. If the children were being affected by advertisements, then their diets and levels of obesity should be different to that of parents since parents are more likely to choose healthier options. However, this is not the case; studies have indicated that during the period that children obesity has increased, the number of obese adults has increased in approximately similar figures. This means that advertisement has little or nothing to do with obesity in children; parental feeding habits are to blame since children are more likely to eat the same food as their parents (Hoek and Gendall, 2006). Role of Television Though not directly through advertisements, the television and other media have contributed to an increase in the number of obese children; in addition, food adverts are sometimes beneficial in positively influencing the eating habits in society (Zywicki, Holt and Ohlhausen, 2004). Negative Influence Much television time has been taken up by the computer, movies and video games; all of which are sedentary and the result is fewer calories spent in relation to calories consumed. In addition, people have taken to snacking while watching television since it is easier to do so while doing a passive activity, as opposed to active activity. Therefore, while the time spent in front of a television screen has reduced, there has been an increase in screen time due to the proliferation of other entertainment media (Zywicki, Holt and Ohlhausen, 2004). Positive Influence Studies that conclude that adverts have a negative effect ignore the fact that advertisements do not usually convince people to try out new foods; all they do is present alternatives to consumers, some of which are the healthier alternatives. In addition, there has been an increasing use of advertisements in giving health information about various foods and encouraging people to be watchful of their eating habits. In addition, advertisements work with government policy that is responsible for the regulation of: Food serving sizes Claims of improvement in food content like decreased calories, reduced portion size, product type and disclosure requirements Claims of foods being healthier alternatives Television offers more information on the above and gives people more alternatives to ensure a healthy consumption of commercial foods. In addition, these days food adverts are more positive and less harmful than before since most claims are backed up by scientific evidence (Zywicki, Holt and Ohlhausen, 2004). Attempts at Regulation Various stakeholders have attempted to control the content of advertisements including the government and advertisers. The government has policies that guide advertisers on the content of adverts, while advertisers have made several attempts at self-regulation by reducing the number of fast food advertisements and promoting the advertisement of healthier alternatives (Zywicki, Holt and Ohlhausen, 2004). Conclusion Obesity is a cause of concern not only in the United States but also in the whole world, especially due to the rapidly increasing numbers of obese children. It is hard to blame a single agent for this trend, and all stakeholders should come together and tackle the problem head on. Moreover, empirical evidence shows that advertisement is not directly related to obesity in children; it even has a positive influence on eating habits. Therefore, instead of focusing all energies on blaming advertising, stakeholders should perform studies that would enable them to influence the eating habits of the public in a positive manner. References Chou, S., Rashad, I., & Grossman, M. (2008). Fast-food restaurant advertising on television and its influence on childhood obesity. Journal of Law and Economics, 51(4), 599-618. Ebbeling, C.B., Pawlak, D.B., & Ludwig, D.S. (2002). Childhood obesity: Public-health crisis, common sense cure. Lancet, 360, 473-82. Hoek, J., & Gendall, P. (2006). Advertising and obesity: a behavioral perspective. Journal of Health Communication, 11, 409–423. Kulkarni, K. D. (2004). Food, culture, and diabetes in the United States. Clinical Diabetes, 22(4), 190-192. Mackett, R. L. (2002). Increasing car dependency of children: should we be worried? Municipal Engineer, 151, 29-38. Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M., Curtin, L., Lamb, M., & Flegal, K. (2010). Prevalence of high body mass index in us children and adolescents 2007-2008. Journal of American Medical Association, 303(3), 242-249. Ogden, C. L., Carroll, M. D., & Flegal, K. M. (2008). High body mass index for age among U.S. children and adolescents, 2003–2006. 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