Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Banning Junk Food Ads to Fight Childhood Obesity

This week I chose to explore the blogosphere to see what is being discussed about one of the most controversial topics in children’s advertising and one of the biggest epidemics that effects children today; child obesity and the advertisement of junk food. Childhood obesity has become a growing concern over the years, especially in America, and it was curious to me that not many laws have been passed to prevent children from being exposed to junk foods that promote the problem. Public schools have taken most junk foods off of their grounds in hopes of bettering their student’s health but despite their efforts childhood obesity continues to be on the rise. Kids have the most access to junk food when they are at home and they desire these foods in part because they have seen them on television and influence their parents to buy these unhealthy foods for them. As stated earlier, this is a growing problem in America, but not much has been done to put bans on junk food advertisements aimed at children yet in the states, so the blogs I examined on the topic were from other countries, Canada and Ireland in this case, and here we can see how the American system of shielding children from bad health habits is lacking in comparison with other countries who are working to take an active stance against companies who are advertising to their children. I chose to comment on two blogs that discuss the issue. The first blog is called Weighty Matters and discusses conditions that people suffer from which can be controlled or eliminated by simple lifestyle changes. It is written by a former family physician from Canada named Yoni Freedhoff and in her post entitled “Children’s Junk Food Ad Ban in Ontario?”, she discusses the movement to create a ban on all junk food ads aimed at children in Canada and the resistance that is coming from the companies that create this ad. The second blog is by James Doorley, chairman of the Consumers Association of Ireland, and is called An Irish Consumerist. In his post entitled “Time to drop junk food advertising aimed at children”, he pushes for a law that would ban advertisements of junk food to children before 9pm on television. I have read both of their posts and have made my comments available not only on their respective sites but also have posted them below for your convenience.

“Children’s Junk Food Ban in Ontario?”
Comment:
First I would like to say that I completely agree with your stance on this issue of junk food advertisements to children. This has become a growing issue over the years and is playing a part in the health of children over the world. Most of these ads are aimed at children who are too young to decipher what is being marketed to them but when they see these brand logos on television, such as the Trix rabbit as you refer to, and then they see the same logo when they go to the grocery store with their parents, they are going to chose the product that they are most familiar with and the product that gives them the good feeling that they associate with their afternoon cartoon shows. Obesity among children is probably a larger issue than underage smoking and drinking, and there are bans on advertising cigarettes and alcohol to children, but there are hardly any actions being taken to prevent children from eating foods that could ruin their health for the rest of their lives, but maybe that is because every one eats and food is not seen as being as threatening as cigarettes and alcohol, but therein lies the problem. Food is being overlooked as an issue that should be controlled in most countries because people do have the right to eat whatever they want, but foods that are so unhealthy that they can lead to major health issues should be examined and their production should be reconsidered for the sake of not only children but for adults who suffer from obesity also. There is no legitimate reason to feed a child cereal that is high in fat and sugar as their first meal of the day, and not only should companies rethink their reasons for producing such a product, but parents should also have a role in what their children consume and teach them healthy eating habits in the home so that they can learn to apply these same habits in their lives outside of home. I think it is a great way to get people involved in this issue by providing information on how they can help as you have in your post because there are people out there that are concerned about this topic but aren’t sure if there is much they can do about it and you are letting them know that where there is a will, there is a way. I appreciate your post on this issue and look forward to returning to your blog in hopes of reading more of your insights.

“Time to Drop Junk Food Advertising Aimed at Children”
Comment:
Your position as the Chairman of the Consumers Association of Ireland is clearly reflected throughout your post on this issue of junk food ads for children in the authority that you seem to have over the issue and the depth of knowledge that you display in the field. This is an issue that I wish was discussed more often in the United States and that actions such as these would be implemented as well because childhood obesity should be a concern of parents and the companies who are providing these foods on the market. Others have suggested that ads that are promoting junk foods and that are aimed at children should be banned from television and I believe that your suggestion to ban all junk food ads before 9pm is an equally valid proposal. Ideally companies would stop production on these products that are so high in fats, salts and sugars, but being that these products bring in high revenues for their respective companies and when eaten in moderation they don’t pose any severe health risk, it is improbable that it would be a legitimate suggestion for them to stop producing them. Getting rid of all junk food ads, at any time of the day, would be my suggestion because even after 9pm children can still see these ads, and not only are children at stake but adults too and these ads can promote bad health in households as a whole. I agree with your argument that parents play a role in childhood obesity because they have the majority of the buying power when it comes to the foods in their home and because of this power they should actively use it to provide foods that promote healthy lifestyles and not give in to what their children request to eat because children at a young age don’t have the ability to distinguish between healthy food and junk food. For parents, the health of their families should be a top priority and as you say, for the government the health of their people should take priority over profits made by big companies. This is an issue that is of concern especially to me because I plan to have a career in the field of advertising and getting myself involved in the issues of this market before starting my career has given me a bigger picture of the ethics of advertising and I look forward to returning to your blog in hopes of reading more on this topic.

Building on the Future: Corporations Look to Make Employees out of Today's Students

Marketing not only takes place through media channels and public advertisements, but also in lesser-suspected areas such as a high school classroom. Companies have been known to advertise their products within schools to generate new customers in the student body, but now some corporations are looking to gain the students interest in the company itself with the hope that they will consider being a future employee with the business. Marketing lesson plans and even a few year-long courses in a subject which offers training in the field of the corporation’s business are being offered at some high schools and middle schools across the nation. There are differing opinions on this kind of education that is designed to produce future employees; from one perspective the schools benefit from the funding, another opinion says the education that students receive suffers because employees are being formed instead of focusing on a well rounded education, and through the arguments the well-being of students is the most highly debated aspect of the issue. The students can benefit from these courses in a few ways but it can also be seen that these companies who may or may not be interested in their actual education are manipulating students into a job position. Taken as a whole, classes conducted by corporations should be allowed because not only do they expose students to the working world which can further a their education, but the classes and programs also open students up to opportunities they may not have otherwise.

In-school marketing has been a growing concern for The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood. The CCFC holds events to prevent companies from marketing directly toward young people because they are an impressionable market and can be taken advantage of. The Wall Street Journal reports on classroom marketing in the article entitled “High School Classes Scripted by Corporations”, which is posted on the CCFC website. The report calls attention to the situation of corporations imposing their brand on students and attempting to mold them through exposure to the company’s field of work. Groups such as Deloitte LLP have used lesson plans in high schools that show students different lines of work that they may be interested in upon graduation, these lines of work including several positions available with Deloitte. This program does not hide that the company is looking to interest students with the offers that they make available to their employees, but the companies that have these school programs do more than that. In most cases they offer classroom materials that accompany their lesson plans and design valuable professional development courses that can benefit a school and would be hard for teachers to turn down.

Similar to the Deloitte agenda, Project Lead the Way is a program that is designed to interest students in engineering and provides eight full-year engineering courses for high school students and five ten-week units in areas such as robotics for middle school students. Project Lead the Way has been sponsored by engineering companies such as Lockheed Martin who have made it clear that “increasing general interest in math and science for all students is not [their] goal. Nudging students toward Lockheed…is”. The engineering field has especially made an effort with these high school programs to ensure a steady workforce because in the past years overall interest in the career of engineering among college students has been quite low and corporations are expecting work shortages in the coming years. Corporations are trying to get a grip on the future workforce in order to ensure their survival, and interesting students in their programs has worked for them so far. Students who have been involved in the courses have taken one or more and many of them have expressed interest in majoring in engineering in college based on what they have learned in the Project Lead the Way program.

Disputes over these programs come about in many forms, mostly with concern for how students are being positioned by the businesses. Schools are in the position to decide what is taught to their students and should keep in mind that their job is to build upon a student’s education, not to appease companies who make them offers. Lead the Way’s vice president of operations, Niel Tebbano, has said that these kinds of programs are what schools need; they show students how their education is applied in the work force, which make their work seem more valuable to them. On the other hand some of these programs are intensive and are designed “to start training students for professions that often require university degrees”. Programs like this can be beneficial to students by expanding their academic world but they can also end up being a distraction from other subjects and hold their focus on future work rather than the education they are receiving presently.

These kinds of courses are using students to interest them in companies that they may or may not have heard of before, but students at a high school level have the ability to know what they are and are not interested in. Classes offered by corporations can open doors for students and get them accompanied with a business that they may have never known they’d have an interest in otherwise and so far these classes have not been shown to distract from other coursework. These programs are all optional and solely available for students who may be interested. In some cases students and young people are seen as being passive in their decisions and easily influenced, but I do not believe that this is one of the cases in which there should be an excess of concern.