Blog#8

Kangil Heo

Dr.Smith

English 101

24 April 2014

The government needs to step in and start regulating advertising of unhealthy food directed at children. The food industry uses smart marketing techniques to manipulate and take advantage of children. This is a serious problem to the children’s health and cannot be stopped even with the parent’s regulation over their child. In “Chapter 2: Your Trusted Friends” in Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser, the author focuses on the food industry and how they use advertisements to take advantage of children. For example, Kroc and Disney invent similar marketing strategies to manipulate children. Another example would be when I was a child; I was heavily influenced by advertisements and wanted a cotton candy machine. Advertisements directed at children, is a serious problem that even the parents have trouble dealing with.

Both Kroc and Disney were pioneers of child advertising. Kroc invented Ronald McDonald which was based on a clown, and made children think that McDonalds as a whole was their “trusted friend.” This kind of advertising lead to the serving of McDonald’s even at school lunches. This is why; the government needs to take control so these kinds of issues never occur again. Disney, invented Mickey Mouse and a new system called “synergy.” Synergy gave other companies the rights to use Disney characters. By doing this, Disney made an indirect correlation with unhealthy food and toys. Both Kroc and Disney made a fortune from advertising to children. However, it was unhealthy for the kids and very stressful for the parents as well. According to a New York Times article by Mark Bittman, “17 percent of kids in the United States are obese.” The government should definitely regulate child advertisement.

When I was around 7, I was also a victim of child advertisement. I saw a commercial about a cotton candy machine, and how you can make unlimited amounts of cotton candy using only sugar. I was so excited and begged my parents for one. They knew it was unhealthy and told me it was unhealthy but got me one anyways because I begged for it for days and days. Even though it is my parent’s responsibility to control what I eat, they also want to make me happy by getting me what I want. According to the New York Times by Mark Bittman, “It’s been reported that kids see an average of 5,500 food ads on television every year.” Children get fooled by advertisements all the time and I was also a victim. The government needs to regulate these advertisements to improve our society’s overall health.

The Fast food industry has millions of advertisements on television a day. Most of these advertisements are targeted at children. For example, what Kroc did with Ronald McDonald and how Disney used synergy. Also, how I was influenced by a cotton candy commercial. Even the parent’s don’t have choice because they want to give what their children want and make them happy. Therefore, the government needs to step in and take control of the advertising of unhealthy food directed at children to improve overall health.