Written Assignment
Other industrialized nations prohibit or strictly regulate food marketing to children. The United States places some restrictions on marketing and food labeling. Should there be restrictions on food marketing? Why or why not? Should food marketing to children be restricted? What are the counter-arguments to such restrictions? Recently, the food industry in the United States has viewed the younger generation as a major market force. As a result, children are now the target of aggressive, specialized food marketing strategies. Children are highly susceptible to the influences of advertisements that they are bombarded with on a daily regimen. Consequently, the target audience, comprised of these children, is more likely to partake in as well as influence the economical and physical consumption of the major branded food products. Reportedly, said marketed products have predominantly been laden with calorie-dense substances and is of appallingly low nutritional quality (Harris, Pomeranz, Lobstein & Brownell, 2009). As a result of this cycle of continuous onslaught of advertising to children our nation must feel obligated to implement a better standard of food marketing regulation.
It is important that children are not the victims of the ruthless advertising campaign because the overall health of our supposedly PROUD American nation is on a steep decline. To the majority of American consumers it is not blaringly obvious that global trends report that an alarming thirty-five percent of America children are overweight or obese (Harris, Pomeranz, Lobstein & Brownell, 2009). Statistically a majority these obese-stricken individuals are at a higher risk for health related impairments later on in life. This can include, but not limited to gallstones, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and triglycerides, coronary artery disease (CAD), a stroke, and sleep apnea (Health Wise, 2011). With such ailments looming in the future, the need to plant new regulatory standards is now a necessity, not an option. However, the problem also lies in the children’s inability to regulate themselves nor differentiate the motives put forward by advertisements: In other words, children fail to see that the advertisements are not for their benefit and they lack the “cognitive abilities to understand that advertising presents a biased point of view” (Harris, Pomeranz, Lobstein & Brownell, 2009). Upon further scrutiny, it is revealed that the specific food industries are only interested in marketing to the juvenile demographic because of their spending power, purchasing influence, and the potential