Food Taxing as a Highly Debated Agenda - Essay Example

Persuasion Introduction Food taxing has been a highly debated agenda adopted by the US government to reduce obesity and related risks for fast-food consumption. The concept of imposing taxes on “unhealthy” food was drawn from taxing tobacco contents, which was successful in attaining the determined objectives. However, unlike in the case of tobacco taxes, critics have argued that when aiming at the reduction of obesity by increasing the cost to avail the high saturated fat foods, the government may have to face conflicts in different sectors concerning the fact that the industry comprises a major proportion of the US economy in the current scenario (Unsworth, 2012). Emphasizing this particular issue, the objective of the essay is to develop an overview about the nature of message delivered through articles referred. Furthermore, in this essay, classification of the articles titled “Tough love for fat people: Tax their food to pay for healthcare” by Healy (2009), “Should fattening foods be taxed?” by Cafferty (2009) and “Americans against Food Taxes” by SourceWatch (2011) is done respectively, depending on the writing styles and the effects that they could generate on the common people. Strengths and Weaknesses Strengths The major strength that could possibly be noted from the article titled “Americans against Food Taxes” is the group’s focus on the reaction of the common people regarding food taxes induced on government defined “unhealthy foods” (SourceWatch, 2011). Similarly, the articles titled “Tough love for fat people: Tax their food to pay for healthcare” and “Should fattening foods be taxed?” can be treated as informative sources reflecting on the ways general people are bound to suffer for such taxation, especially those who are not obese; thus, offering a contradictory point of view to the issue (Cafferty, 2009; Healy, 2009). The article by SourceWatch (2011), provides a clear indication of the ways the group, i.e. Americans against Food Taxes are supporting the people combating against food taxation, which might in turn, serve as an emotional base for the popularity of the article. As can be observed, the major strength of this article have been to draw attention of its readers towards aspects, which might be left overlooked when interpreting both the pros and cons of the issue concerning tax imposition on “unhealthy” foods. Weaknesses One of the key weaknesses of the article by SourceWatch (2011) is its focus on unveiling the arguments made by the Americans against Food Taxes group, funded by renowned beverage companies in the US. This could initiate the feeling that the article is principally backed by the profit motives of the companies, which are actually facing the main meltdown due to the taxes being imposed by the US government on “unhealthy” foods. Again, a critical perspective to the article advocate that the group of Americans against Food Taxes are less informative being focused only on the negative reactions of the people about the taxation initiative taken by the US government on “unhealthy food”. The article should be more informative, which would offer the people with a clear idea about the facts behind the government imposing such taxes, providing unbiased overview to the issue. While observing the referred article presenting the viewpoints of Americans against Food Taxes, it can be viewed that the article has been partially successful in persuading the people to vote against the governmental norms of imposing taxes on “unhealthy” foods. Moreover, the article also stimulates the fact that people love having food that they believe to be tasty, even at the cost of compromised food values, which has been a basic reason to increase the inclination of people against governmental policy of ‘fat taxes’ (SourceWatch, 2011). The articles referring the viewpoints of American against Food Taxes can be rated under ‘Grade B’ for persuasion as its main motive was to highlight the negatives of the food tax policy measure. Even though, it has been a source of mass persuasion, the group can be observed as lacking proper research on the topic of debate from an unbiased perspective. To be argued, the articles have doubtlessly aimed to persuade people, but have never clarified on the fact about the actual relevance of ‘Fat taxes’. Assessment of the Sources From a generalized perspective, the article based on Americans against Food Taxes group by SourceWatch (2011) has been principally focused on the issue about food taxes charged by the government and the affects it imposes on the population (Engelhard & Garson, 2009).Similarly, the other two articles, i.e. “Should fattening foods be taxes?” and “Tough love for fat people” can be treated as highly argumentative instead of being persuasive, as both the articles focus on the two most obvious questions that can possibly arise with such initiatives undertaken. Correspondingly, inspired with the success of taxes imposed on tobacco purchases, the articles by Cafferty (2009) and Healy (2009) raises the questions that triggers arguments on whether unhealthy dietary practices of the population indicates greater threat than tobacco consumption and whether fattening foods should be taxed. However, the fact represented by these articles, in contradiction to the views presented by the Americans against Food Taxes group, cannot be denied that obesity has been a major challenge for the US. Nevertheless, whether taxing is the only solution to reduce the risk remains unanswered, which can in turn trigger a set of more critical arguments (Engelhard & Garson, 2009). Based on these observations, the below chart has been developed referring to the viewpoints presented in the three articles reviewed above. Conclusion Emphasizing the above-discussion, it can be concluded that the articles referred here undoubtedly provide beneficial information about the governmental taxation policies on unhealthy food consumption, but are found to mostly rely on observations and the reaction of people concerning particular issues. However, these articles could have been much more research oriented when concentrating on the loopholes of the government in imposition of the taxation strategies. The fact can never be denied that obesity and diseases related to the same is a threat to the country. The major concern could thus be stressed on whether taxation is the only way that could be the remedy of the same. References Cafferty, J. (2009). Should fattening foods be taxed? Retrieved from http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2009/07/29/should-fattening-foods-be-taxed Engelhard, C. L. & Garson, A. (2009). Can successful tobacco control measures provide a model for fighting obesity? Reducing Obesity: Policy Strategies from the Tobacco Wars, 1-63. Healy, M. (2009).  Tough love for fat people: Tax their food to pay for healthcare. Retrieved from http://www.bluelight.org/vb/threads/454717-Opinion-Tough-love-for-fat-people-Tax-their-food-to-pay-for-healthcare Source Watch. 2011. Americans against food taxes. Retrieved from http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_Against_Food_Taxes Unsworth, L. (2012). Fat taxes: can taxing unhealthy food and drink improve health. Food Ethics Council, 1-7. Read More