Advertising in the Food System - Essay Example

Advertising in the Food System Introduction Food System advertising is a major cause of the obesity epidemic especially among children. Children are at a high risk of the obesity epidemic because they lack the self-control and knowledge on the adverse effects of the junk and fast foods advertised. The effect of food advertising is negative among children because it leads to morbidity among children. The problem causes a long-term social cost on the children. Food advertising negatively influences children to take harmful foods, which lead to obesity. Obesity leads to morbidity among children. There is a need for the reduction of the epidemic. The children need to be controlled pertaining to the media they access. According to Koc, Sumner and Winson (2012), there must be regulation of the media subject to the concern of junk food advertising. The initiative will help in the prevalence rates of obesity among children. There is a strong correlation between obesity and non-nutritious food adverts. Schlosser (2012) asserts that children below the age of 6 years are easily persuaded by the unhealthy food advertisements. Consequently, the advertisement of the food systems becomes exploitative and intimidating for the children. In fact, the exposure of children to advertisements makes children develop their food preferences at a very tender age. Consequently, the children become selective in the food they take. Unfortunately, the children preferences are fatty and junk foods, which cause obesity. Before children can realize the effect of such foods on their health, they are already obese. The persuasive nature of the adverts is intriguing and unfair. In fact, the childs food preferences gradually influence the parents’ choice of food shopping. It leads to the obesity epidemic, even among the parents. Parents often get compromised by their children on the choice of food to take because most parents are never willing to appear harsh to children. There is a need for the ban of advertisement of junk food and the introduction of nutritious foods on TV food system advertisements. Junk food constitutes of foods and drinks containing high sugar, fat and salt content. The advertisement categorizes the junk foods as energy-dense in order to persuade the customers to purchase the foods. The media negatively contribute to the growth of children because of the persuasive adverts of fatty foods. The children face a tough social life, throughout life when they develop obesity. The fact that children sometimes watch many channels contributes to easy access to many food advertisements spontaneously. The unfortunate aspect of the epidemic of obesity is that parents are influenced by the developed preferences of their children. In fact, most adults with the obesity problem developed the problem during childhood. The parents need to play an instrumental role pertaining to the food choices and the media advertisements their children access. The initiative will enable the parents to control the influx of junk foods among their children, hence controlling the epidemic of obesity in society. According to In Neff (2015), a ban on advertisements bordering junk foods is a comprehensive strategy to be adopted by authorities in order to reduce the obesity epidemic. The initiative will also be the best cost-effective measure in a bid to contain the epidemic compared to the cost of curing obesity. However, the food processing industries stick to their guns claiming that the sole purpose of advertising junk foods is to provide the consumer with a wide array of choice of foods. The industries blame the challenge of child obesity prevalence in parents. They claim that parents are responsible for the lifestyles of their children pertaining to food taking and other aspects of life like social media. The issue is controversial because children are also guaranteed the right to information access. A ban on the TV junk food advertisements will imply that the authority is infringing on the right to information among children. The legal framework on the issue is skewed because the same legal revision also requires the maintenance of healthy children. Additionally, the exposure of children to TV advertisements hardens the process of parental guidance pertaining to the side-effects of the junk foods. The children will also always take their proffered meals, hence the need to ban the advertisements of junk food. The international body on child welfare also gives a leeway for any measure tailored at promoting the welfare of the children. A ban on junk food advertisements will form part of the measure towards the protection of children from developing obesity. Self-regulation among the advertisers is sufficient. They also share in view of the need for protection of children from obesity. However, self-regulation sometimes breaches the code for food advertising. The loopholes, which exist in the advertisement codes enables the advertisers to advertize the junk foods without recourse. All stakeholders should be involved in the promotion if the welfare of children by supporting the ban on adverts on junk foods. Self-regulation of industries should be peer- reviewed to guarantee maximum protection of children. The exposure to unhealthy food among children should be reduced on a global scale. Self-regulation of advertisers does not prioritize public health. The health sector and the communications authority are two different entities. There should be a consensus between the two entities pertaining to the advertisement of junk foods. The communication authority intends to reach all categories of people including adults. Therefore, a ban on the junk foods will negatively impact on the revenue earnings of the communication body. The fact that the self-regulation systems of the media do not advocate public health provides a conflict between the protection of children and the access to information (Holt and Reed, 2009). The common sense aspect of the issue evokes various perceptions pertaining to the morality of the institutes of communication and child welfare. The overriding objective is to prioritize the interests of children before the commercial interests of the media advertisers. Food advertisements usually form a substantial portion of adverts on TV. It will be plausible for advertisers to project their adverts to adults and be mindful of children. The advancement of self-regulation of industries leads to lack of recognition of childs health interests. The government should ensure the effectiveness of the self-regulation of industries and media bodies. The government regulatory framework should ensure curtail of the aggressive and unfair marketing of junk foods. The amount of funds aspect on TV food advertisements attests to the fact that commercial interests are prioritized over child welfare. The advertising industries and the food agents argue that parents have a greater influence on the food choice of children compared to the media food adverts. The industries of food advertisements risk losing millions of revenue in case they are stopped from advertising the foods. However, many people prefer junk foods, hence the need for bias in advertising of junk foods. The profit making industries have targets pertaining to the daily and monthly sales. According to Carolan (2011), the combination of self-regulation, government regulation, and co-regulation complicates the process of oversight of the advertising industries. It implies that a review must be carried out in order to unravel the deficit in the regulatory framework. The system of regulation is designed in a manner that it only responds to complaints from the general public rather than pursuing its core objective of regulation of the advert content. The flaws in the regulatory framework are not resolved hence leading to the negative influence of the junk food adverts on the health of children below the age of 18 years. The TV standards are never robust; hence the control of the advertisement of unhealthy foods is not adequate. Additionally, children account for the majority of the TV audience most of the time. It is prudent for the government to liaise with the advertisement industries and food agents in ensuring that the welfare of children is prioritized. The ban on promotion of junk on the TV media will be a move towards societal development. The move will reduce the consumption of unhealthy foods and encourage the taking of healthy foods. Children will benefit because they watch TV more than their parents. The advertising industries should channel their advertisement funds to the adverts on healthy foods. Additionally, penalties must be established to help in the discouraging the food agents and advertising industries from airing such content. In fact, one-third of children below the age of 12 years in England are obese (Nestle, 2013). It indicates that the food system advertisements are negatively affecting generations. Therefore, there is a need for the control of, the content aired on TV. Additionally, the advertising industries must be regulated by broadcasting content. There is a need for the development of a media environment, which is sensitive to the plight of children pertaining to healthy eating. The media environment can be established through the promotion of healthy foods on media rather than junk food advertisements. Many forums on TV and social media should focus on the obesity epidemic especially among children. The impact of the media on the development of obesity among children should also feature in most of the national and international forums. It will create awareness of the reality of the negativity of junk food adverts on children and some adult health. Additionally, tough controls must be established to ensure that advertising industries are tamed to avoid a breach of advertisement code requirements. Otherwise, the freedom of the advertisement entities will negatively affect the health of children. Obesity results in low self-esteem among children. It is because obesity affects the lifestyle of the children. Consequently, they struggle to get along with their colleagues who are physically fit. The children with obesity also tend to rate their life quality compared lowly to the normal children. According to Laitin (2011), obesity increases anxiety among people especially children. The children also develop low concentration levels, which culminates in poor academic performances. These factors lead to the isolation of the children from their colleagues because of the stigma. In the long-term the obese children have few friends. The government responds to the obesity epidemic through the flattening of the rate of obesity among the children and do little pertaining to the curtailing of the persuasive programs. Discrimination also sets in because of low self-esteem and retreat behavior. Discrimination is manifest in various situations, including employment and travel. The government should apply deterrents for the junk food advertisements like the deterrents made in stopping the baby-milk companies from advertising to breastfeeding mothers. The problem created by the junk food adverts is that children develop loyalty for specific junk foods to adulthood. It implies that the children are doomed to succumb to obesity, however much they try to desist from taking the unhealthy foods. The food industry has an interest in the consumption of junk food among children because they reap from the childrens consumption from childhood to adulthood (McGinnis, 2008). The companies provide revenue to the federal government through taxation and license fees. Therefore, the government does not emphasize on the regulation of the adverts because of the indirect returns from the junk food returns. Besides the negative social impact of ingestion of unhealthy food, stunted growth also results from a lack of healthy foods. Better governance of the food supplies will resolve the problem of obesity. Additionally, the government should craft measures to avert unhealthy food supplies and promote healthy food supplies and advertisements. Conclusion The advertisements of unhealthy foods, especially junk foods, results in obesity. There is controversy involved in the advertisement effects on childrens health and banning of the junk food advertisements. The banning of the adverts will result in loss of revenue for the companies and lack of funds for developmental projects because the government obtains tax revenue from the advertisement companies. The onus of child maintenance rests with parents because children learn from their parents and are subordinate to their parents. References Holt, G., & Reed, M. (2009). Sociological perspectives of organic agriculture: From pioneer to policy. Wallingford, UK: CABI Pub. Carolan, M. S. (2012). The sociology of food and agriculture. London: Routledge. In Neff, R. (2015). Introduction to the US food system: Public health, environment, and equity. Koc, M., Sumner, J. and Winson A. (2012) Critical Perspectives in Food Studies. Toronto: Oxford University Press. Nestle, M. (2013). Food politics: How the food industry influences nutrition and health. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press. Laitin, D. D. (2011). Hegemony and culture: Politics and religious change among the Yoruba. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. McGinnis, J. M. (2008). Food marketing to children and youth: Threat or opportunity? Washington, DC: National Acad. Press. Schlosser, E. (2012). Fast food nation: The dark side of the all-American meal. Boston: Mariner Books/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Read More