Childhood obesity is a problem America has been struggling to tackle since the 1980s. The numbers of overweight and obese children have been rising steadily for decades and have now become an issue attempting to be dealt with in a variety of ways all over the country. We’ve all heard of Michelle Obama’s anti-childhood obesity campaign and how school lunches have been radically changed to foster healthy choices in kids. And while obesity rates have dropped small percentages in large cities like New York and Los Angeles, according to a recent report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the obesity epidemic lies beyond one woman’s efforts or the offering of salad at lunch. In order to grasp a firm hold on the bulging neck of childhood obesity, we must first look at the root causes.
Childhood obesity has essentially been broken down into a blame game between two sides. Many blame corporate America because of their advertisement of unhealthy food to kids and the large production of processed food that fills up store shelves. A CBS news article by Gary Ruskin and Juliet Schor reported that companies like Nabisco and Coca-Cola have done little in recent years to slow the advertising campaign of products like Oreos and Coke. Others put the weight on the parents. They say that it is a parent’s responsibility to teach their child good food habits, and by letting them eat the processed junk food they are at fault. A 2011 article by Sarah Kliff reported that while genetics of parents may be a factor, teaching children healthy habits is of utmost importance.
While parents are responsible for their children, the responsibility of childhood obesity lies in the hands of corporate America. This is clear when you look at the advancements in technology our country has seen in the past 30 years. The United States has seen the internet, common use of cell phones and television, and an explosion of social networking all in the past few decades. This creates more and more outlets to which companies can spread their product, not to mention a wider population. According to a 2010 article by Tom Philpott, a study by the Yale Center for Food Policy and Obesity reported that in 2009 the fast-food industry alone spent $4.2 billion in marketing alone, while the Center for Nutrition and Policy Promotion spent just $6.5 million. This means that for every $1 spent advertising a Big Mac or Whopper, less than one tenth of a penny is advertised for vegetables, and this kind of unbalance must play a role in parents’ decisions on what to feed their kids.
This kind of advertising comes easily, as marketing restrictions are minimal. Fast and unhealthy food companies have certain time slot restrictions and other boundaries that involve children, but other than that, the range is open. Advertising their product in all places makes it seem acceptable, or even the norm, to eat this kind of food regularly, and that kids should expect it. This can also cause problems with children in terms of temper tantrums and throwing fits in order to get parents to buy the junk food they have come to associate with their favorite television show. Even the parents can be persuaded by this over stimulation, buying more fast food than necessary because they see it advertised so much.
The big companies of unhealthy food also have control over the parents because of the food we make. In the world we live in, processed food is easy to come by. There’s lots of it and it’s easy to make, plus it is cheap. This has allowed over 30,000 McDonalds to spring up in the United States alone, proudly claiming that it has served billions and billions. And because of the frequency of McDonalds and their low-cost food, Mickey D’s has become an easy choice for Americans as a cheap meal option every single day. Morgan Spurlock, the director and star of the popular documentary “Super-Size Me” ate McDonalds every day for one month, and it had disastrous effects on his liver and overall health. But on the flip side, natural foods that have much higher health benefits are more expensive and harder to come by, and in today’s economy, millions of Americans cannot afford to buy natural or organic all the time. For many parents, keeping their kids fed, protected and safe is a heck of a job within itself. Being over concerned with the food their kids are eating may take a backseat if eating healthy doesn’t fit into the budget. For many Americans, the convenience and frugality of fast food joints like McDonalds makes it a far easier and faster choice than preparing a healthy meal at home. In this way, dominating fast food and processed snack food companies have an advantage in getting their product to the public, putting them at fault for the parents who just can’t do any better because of the situation they are in.
Childhood obesity has certainly grabbed the attention of Americans, but have we recognized the true problem? Noting the extreme advertising and strong grip on the market, fast food has completely dominated the American public in the last decades. This kind of influence in our everyday life consumed with ads shows us thousands more advertisements for fast food than it does for a can of spinach. Plus, in these often hard times, putting any kind of food in your child’s mouth trumps the attempt to buy the healthiest food. Total market domination and lack of advertising restrictions has allowed junk food to take over America’s eating habits, and while parents are responsible for teaching their kids, how can they do that if all they see is greasy fries and soda lids?
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