Increase in health issues: the role of the media in adverting junk foods - Essay Example

no. Increase In Health Issues: The Role Of The Media In Adverting Junk Foods Thesis Junk foods are foods that do not meet the recommended nutritional standards. Essentially, a food product is considered nutritional if it has very high sugar, fat, and salt contents. Sadly, the media today has fueled the consumption of junk foods through catchy advertisements which are designed to tempt buyers into buying these products. In line with this, this paper aims at analyzing how the media uses catchy images to target children and teenagers and tempt the aforementioned into buying these junk foods. Introduction Junk foods advertisements have taken up a lot of advertisement space on all media in contemporary times. Johnson writes that in the words of the first lady, Mitchell Obama, 86 per cent of food advertisements are for products containing a lot of sugar, fat, and salt. These foods that are rich in sugar, salt, and fats are the reason as to why obesity levels in the American population have skyrocketed, especially among children and teenagers. The images used, the targets, and the temptations contained in these advertisements are of great concern. Image Advertising media usually rely on visual imagery to create certain meanings for the advertised products an in turn, influence consumer behavior. The image portrayed when marketing a particular product plays a crucial role in determining the products popularity and related sales. Accordingly, junk food advertisements use attractive images to lure potential buyers. However, as Beltz & Frank write, the images used do not portray the real version of what people actually look like. Rather, the images are manipulated to make the people look perfect, thus leading the buyer to believe that if they consumer that particular food product, they are going to attain that perfect look. For example, consider the effects of Paris Hilton’s advertisement of burger king, to female teenager. Paris Hilton has the kind of body every young girl would want to have, meaning that if such a girl sees the advertisement, they would think that eating burgers makes them have such a slim body, while the contrary is true. Advertisers, according to Jolly, give the impression that the junk foods are tastier than home-made meals, are fun to experiment with, save time, and are “new” as compared to boring, conventional home-made meals. This kind of persuasion is achieved through attractive packaging, the shape and color of the foods, and endorsements by celebrities. Often times, I have seen my 13 year old nephew refuse to take vegetables at home claiming that they are tasteless, and instead rushing to McDonalds to get a hamburger. For instance, there is this one weekend when my nephew was going out with his friends and when the mother tried to persuade him to wait for five minutes while she prepares vegetables, he just shrugged it off and said he would grab a hamburger since hamburgers are always ready. Target Junk food advertisements usually target children and teenagers who are easily influenced by what the media feeds them. In the United States, food advertisements take up 22 per cent of all television advertisements, adversely affecting children in that they tend to prefer food that is similar to what they saw on television, regardless of its nutritional contents (Belitz & Frank 1). Television is not the only culprit in as far as advertising junk food in concerned, since children and teenagers also spend a lot of time on social media networks, which also contain numerous advertisements for junk food. For instance, I just logged into Facebook and on my recommended pages is “KFC Malaysia-Kentucky fried chicken”, a page with over 1.7 million likes. Advertisers usually target children because the latter easily influence their parents’ purchasing decisions. Jolly terms this as “pester power”, a process in which children pester their parents to purchase buy certain product that the children have been exposed to, in this case junk foods. For example, the other day I was at the grocery store when this seven year old reached for a packet of Cadbury’s chocolates, but the mother put it back on the shelf telling the child that it was “bad”. The child started screaming and kicking insisting she saw kids on the television taking the sweets and nothing “bad” happened to them. The mother was so embarrassed by all the commotion that she reached for the packet and put in into her shopping basket. Tempt Manufacturers of junk food often tempt people to buy their products through incentives such as gifts and other promotional activities. For example, children are the most vulnerable online, where these companies manipulate them using free gifts, downloads, and games. Jolly adds that that competitions and “advergames”, which are video-games sponsored by advertisers, are made to look colorful and adventurous, thus endearing themselves to children and teenagers. Social websites such as facebook and twitter contain pages that advertised these junk foods. Belitz & Frank give the example of Guitar Hero, a video game which has a KFC banner in the background screen, meaning that this makes children feel hungry when playing the game and tempt them to buy a KFC product (1). Results from a recent study showed that people, and especially children tend to take junk food when viewing unhealthy food advertisements (Belitz & Frank 5). The high levels of sugar in these foods give them increased energy to participate in the competitions for free gifts. I once heard a neighbor complain about how her teenage daughter spends all her free time on social media trying to win shopping vouchers from fast food stores. Arguments against limiting junk food advertisements on media Proponents of the move to limit advertisements for junks foods state that the latter have very little nutritional content, thus increasing the chances of health issues, mainly obesity. However, advertisers claim that there is no evidence to show that junk foods lead to obesity, since studies often do not put other risk factors into consideration (Jolly). These critics argue that although advertisements for food products continue to decline, the prevalence of obesity continues rising. In line with this, one can arguably assert that junk foods are not to blame for high levels of obesity, rather other risk factors such as lack of exercise and moderation in diet should be considered (ibid). Nonetheless, Boyce faults such studies by insisting that study findings in the United States have shown that obesity is highest in children who view 4 hours of television a day, and lowest in children who view 1 hour per day (1). Although the defenders of junk food advertising do not deny that their advertisements mostly target children, they argue that the existing regulations on advertising have ensured that advertising time is limited, and that it is not the responsibility of manufacturers to control what children are exposed to. Rather, according to Jolly, parents should teach their children media awareness and make them understand the motives behind advertising. Ideally, a person is responsible for what they choose to eat and should not blame the manufacturers or the methods used by the latter to promote their products. Conclusion The foregoing discussion shows that indeed the media does play a crucial role in encouraging people, especially teenagers and children to consume junk food. From advertising these foods using catchy images, to encouraging their target groups to engage in competitions sponsored by junk food companies, the media has influenced the purchasing decisions of food consumers. Nonetheless, the media is not all to blame for the rise in junk food consumption and subsequent increase in health issues such as obesity. Unhealthy lifestyles such as lack of exercise also contribute a lot to these problems. Additionally, parents should take control of their children and teach them media awareness and proper nutrition. Ideally, parents should not be too busy to care about what their children are eating, and should teach them, from a tender age that home-made meals are healthy, and those foods rich in sugar, fat and salt should only be taken occasionally. The bottom line is, in as much as media advertising is responsible for increased consumption of junk foods, the society and current lifestyles have also contributed to this phenomenon. Parents should, therefore, look for healthy alternatives to children spending eight hours per day glued to television screens and social media websites. This way, the amount of junk food advertisements they see will be significantly reduced and the country’s economy will cease being strained by obesity and other junk-food related heath issues. Works cited Belitz, Katie, & Frank, Anthony. The Influence of the Media on Food Consumption and Body Image. Journal of Undergraduate Research XIII. 2010. Print. Johnson, Ted. Mitchell Obama Calls On Media Companies To Limit Junk Food Ads. 2013. Web. 2013. Jolly, Rhonda. Marketing Obesity? Junk Food, Advertising and Kids. Research Paper No. 9 2010-11. 2011. Web. 2013. Read More