Fast Food Targeting Kids
Childhood obesity throughout the globe, and specifically within the United States, is an exponentially growing problem that carries detrimental health risks into adulthood. It is evident that Americans have more than doubled their size over the last thirty years as the convenience of fast food restaurants has increased. Back in the time period of 1963 through 1970, only nine percent of children between the ages of six to nineteen were classified obese. By 1999, that number increased to twenty seven percent. The number of children obese in America tripled (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) . Eating fast food has become less of special event and more part of everyday life. Children are easily persuaded by what they see on television. While there are several factors that contribute to weight increase, fast food advertising is an area that tends to be over looked as a contributor. Fast food marketing has negatively affected the children of the United States by providing them with unhealthy eating habits that will ultimately affect their health long term.
Advertising comes easy in today’s society with the help of technology and social networking sites such as Facebook. Advertisements have come a long way from the simplistic billboards and paper poster ads. What makes marketers so effective is their keen understanding of how they need to tap into the human brain. The process starts by gaining attention that leads to comprehension of intended information. The brain then encodes that information. An agreement is made whether or not to store it away as a memory. The memory is then retrieved to make a decision. Those decisions are what define behavior (Harris). Advertisements aid consumers in deciding what is normal. The reasoning for what is normal will lead to a behavior because the brain makes those conscious decisions without a person even noticing. The constant exposure consumers, parents and children have to fast food...