The fast food sector is one of the largest sectors of the US economy. Companies like Burger King, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, McDonald’s and KFC have become well-known names. Each of these companies has a similar mission statement: it serves a quick meal at very low cost. The most important marketing medium for these companies is television, where they can use advertising to showcase their products and lifestyle. However, its focus on minorities and children has begun to exacerbate the epidemic of obesity that is sweeping our country. TV advertising of fast food makes a significant contribution to the obesity of today’s minority youth. By promoting unhealthy trends and high-calorie foods, as well as an attitude that promotes tolerance to diseases such as obesity, these companies influence people so much that they harm their health.
This dangerous marketing method affects not only the United States but also other countries. The focus on the immoral marketing of fast food companies raises the question: do people have a hunger, or a habit advertised and influenced? However, we also need to determine if fast food companies are primarily responsible or if consumers are blamed for this.
An analysis of advertising spending in 2013 showed that US companies spent $ 5.5 billion in advertising in fast food and $6.8 billion. They advertised for different categories of food, beverages and confectionery. Many of these ads were about foods high in calories and low in nutrition. McDonalds is widely regarded as the king of all hamburger chains. This Fast Food was born and was the first company to run a franchise seriously.
According to Singer’s book, McDonalds spent $486.3 million on advertising in 1998. Of the $486.3 million spent on advertising, nearly half was devoted to advertising for children. Another analysis recently revealed that American companies spent $3.5 billion on advertising in fast food restaurants. The problem is not just advertising, but the amount of advertising to which the public is exposed.
The average adult watches nearly 1,500 hours of television each year; The average child who watches a little over 3 hours a day. This is an average child who watches more than 20,000 ads each year. Fast food advertisers know that children are a separate and separate advertising market since the 1960s, and that often the choice of restaurant is made by the child and then paid by the adult. Since children cannot distinguish between commercial and non-commercial content, they tend to advertise for these companies. The fast food chains that convince teens around the world that their food is better and the funniest make it a subconscious attraction to their business with the child. People who grew up with advertising in fast food restaurants have an unconscious connection to the restaurant they ate when they were kids. This discreet link also quickly permeates children’s thoughts and influences their decision to choose a meal.
In 2007, the Food Commission released a study in which half of children aged 9 to 10 thought Ronald McDonald knew what children eat well. The world’s largest fast-food restaurant has long used its Ronald McDonald clown as a trick for kids to buy their products from competitors, as well as most foods in general. McDonalds was one of the first fast food restaurants to offer food to children with toys. Fast food companies are not only targeting children, but also advertising so much that they make friends with the target child by using easily recognizable cartoon characters to promote their product. The simplicity of advertising also allows advertisers to maintain the interest and attention of children. This allows children to connect a face adjustment device they see on TV. On Saturday morning, the cartoons look at a supermarket every 5 minutes on average.
Since companies give their products a name or face to familiarize people with their product, advertising with fake identities is common: McDonalds is no exception. These fast food companies are advertising at ideal times (when they watch children’s TV shows) with too much to maximize their reach with an impressive youth. According to singer’s manual for children and the media, it is easier to put a child in a store if he recognizes or remembers the business. The direct link between youth media advertising and its impact on children became evident when researchers associated frequent television with childhood obesity. This finding alone suggests that fast food advertising among today’s youth is actually directly related to obesity.
Children cannot distinguish between adult advertising and television programs; therefore, they cannot defend against influences in advertisements. In a 3 to 8-year study, the number of weekly hours of television was significantly correlated with children’s caloric intake and children’s demands and food purchases by parents influenced by television. Regarding the financial situation and nutrition, it is much more likely that a larger socio-economic demographics are dining at home and a healthier, though more expensive, diet. Conversely, children with low socio-economic status are more likely to eat fast food at a reasonable price when their working parents are not at home or this is the only problem. The other unfortunate reality is that there are not many grocery stores in urban areas. In most low-income neighborhoods, there are far fewer grocery stores than in other areas of the city. The truth is that a healthy life is expensive and to many people: inferior citizens, minorities, immigrants and most children, fast food is a complete, inexpensive and readily available alternative.
Recently, advertising has focused on minorities because it has become a mere market. A study by Vani Henderson and Bridget Kelly revealed some interesting results in terms of advertising in fast food restaurants in some markets. Their research revealed that television programs were aimed at television minorities: more ads about food products, more advertisements for fast foods, more advertising for unhealthy packaged foods and greater percentage of food was shown in minority programs. This disturbing evidence raises an important question: to what extent are minorities and children of the lower classes really to blame if they are overweight or are so pushed by the media that they unknowingly make unhealthy choices?
Although these minorities are in a situation of limited resources and need to be economically conservative, they could still make a reasonable food choice. However, to capture the business of these minorities, a new trend in fast food advertising has led advertisements with Hispanics and African Americans into new environments. These ads show satisfied minority customers of a McDonalds hamburger on the one hand and the multilingual brand that I love the cups presented on the other. More than ever, McDonalds has been trying to sell its lifestyle to the public with its new commercials, from a group of African-Americans sitting at the Burger Outdoor Steps to Hispanics and African Americans who play basketball and then win a prize, and what a big success. Then a group of low-income friends who are fighting over the dollar menu for the next dinner. Fast food companies have now divided many of their ads into ads for minorities and children. Double the time spent on ads for minority and underprivileged youth. It is these influences and products that fuel the obesity epidemic.
Even with the new menu options healthier fast food companies, most fast food products are far from healthy. Health experts have long complained that fast food contains too much fat, sodium, sugar and calories, and that it promotes obesity, high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and various types of diabetes or cancer. According to Morgan Scurlock’s research in his movie “Super-Size Me”, a consumer should run for seven hours to burn a Super Cola, a Fry and a Big Mac, foods that are more popular than any other food. less healthy products that we can buy. Literally, the main link between fast food and obesity is the lack of education, in addition to the obvious lack of nutrition. Fast food consumers do not know how unhealthy the food they eat. McDonalds does not advertise the number of calories or grams of sugar in its advertising; they encourage thin, healthy people who eat McDonalds with a smile.
Their ads falsify the real impact of their products and people think that a Big Mac is a little healthier than it really is. Coincidentally, the larger groups of overweight people, the minorities, do not have the same opportunities to learn more about these products and their effects on the body. Therefore, until people begin to know the truth about fast food or that companies begin to promote the realities of their products, Americans are becoming heavier.
It is a known fact that Americans are overweight today more than ever before. According to the International Welfare Network, in 2001, in the United States, 25% of Caucasian children were considered obese, while 33% of African-American and Hispanic children were considered overweight and 61% of all children were Caucasian. country. The diseases and health problems associated with obesity are already rivaling tobacco as the leading cause of preventable death in the United States. These alarming numbers force us to recognize the seriousness of the epidemic in our country. However, the company accepts and tolerates the marketing impact that these companies send. Physical education and restrictions are decreasing across the country as food for the cafeteria continues to decline and our children get fatter.
There are many theories about why people have become heavier over time. One of these theories claims that chemical hormones injected into the flesh cause people to gain unhealthy weight too quickly. Other theories deal with the general lack of movement and effort of Americans sitting in cars or office chairs most of the day. The fact that people choose to look for clues that otherwise are passable suggests today’s lethargy. In addition, some nutritionists are beginning to point out that a large majority of the foods advertised today are high in calories and sugar. Regardless of the theory that supports it, people are getting fatter and modern obesity has reached a point that affects health rather than appearance.
Obesity causes diabetes, cardiovascular problems and other serious illnesses with a growing percentage of the population. Today, 80% of type II diabetes is obese, 70% of cardiovascular problems are related to obesity, nearly half of breast and colorectal cancers are diagnosed in obese people and 26% of obese people are hypertensive. Numbers like these are frightening; They open their eyes to the seriousness and the magnitude of the problem. According to the article on the obesity epidemic, obesity is such a serious problem that the number of overweight adolescents has tripled in the last 20 years. In addition, this disease is compounded by the lack of medical care for the biggest victims of the epidemic: Hispanics and African-American minorities.
Not only are affected minorities most affected, but they cannot receive adequate medical care if their health deteriorates. In general, our country is clearly growing, but we are not the only ones. The problem has gone from an American epidemic to a world that dominates the world. He traveled abroad and touched countries where our fast food chains are established. In Europe, one in four children is obese and every year another 400,000 become obese, a problem that comes from the United States. a country with second portions and high calorie foods.
Americans have become accustomed to overeating and have improved their overall perception of dietary and calorie needs. To make matters worse, for many people, a regular sport has become inaccessible. Whether the excuse is for work, children or other events that take a lot of time, people refuse to take their time to run fast. However, as with cancer and cigarettes, people learn the consequences of being overweight and educated.
The advent of media such as Fast Food Nation and Super-Size Me has recently raised awareness of these issues as they sweep the country. They also serve as a catalyst for increasing efforts to improve the eating habits and physical activity of the average American. However, the main difficulty lies in the fact that not everyone can afford to be a member of organic food and more expensive gyms to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In many cases, only the upper class, composed mostly of white Americans, can pay for the food pyramid’s health lessons and the suggested exercises. Since many people with lower socio-economic demographics cannot afford to maintain a regular healthy diet or find time to exercise regularly, they are starting to get the most obesity in the United States. Researchers are just beginning to realize that minorities in our society are the ones where obesity is most prevalent. A recent study found that 77% of black women over 20 were overweight and 49% were obese. In black men, 63% are overweight and 28% are obese. Nowadays, children are not only encouraged to buy unhealthy products, they are also born with an increased risk of obesity.
It has been shown that the United States is growing at an alarming rate. The two leading causes of preventable death are smoking, which is known to cause cancer and overeating, leading to cardiovascular problems. The total logic with which we risk our lives by eating too much gives indications of the magnitude and reversibility of the problem. In addition, disadvantaged socio-economic groups, mostly minority groups, lack adequate medical care and physical activity and are more likely to experience unhealthy fast food regimes. In addition, they are surrounded by an environment in which they generally offer less healthy alternatives. Despite all this evidence, the fault of our obesity epidemic lies not in fast food companies, but in consumers.
People control what, how much, how often, and where they eat, regardless of their influence or persuasion. We can skip a meal for exercise. The underlying truth is that despite the desire of fast food companies to influence the unhealthy food market, consumers are still opting to buy them alone. It is unfair for minorities to become victims of higher rates of obesity because they are part of the company’s goals, but the harsh reality is that no one is forcing them to eat.
If people were consciously committed to living a healthy life, it could be achieved realistically. When minorities, who are very affected by obesity, make extra efforts to buy healthy foods or simply to buy the worst fast food products, change begins for the better. Although many people of low socio-economic status cannot go to a gym, they can still tie up their shoes and run for free. The fact is that we are bringing this epidemic to life through our choices and unhealthy actions.
Solutions for the spread of the epidemic in America are not gastric bypass or a pill to lose weight. These may help some people who can afford such options, but they do not contribute significantly to the widespread fight against obesity. The only guaranteed cure is a greater awareness of food and its effects on the body, with a constant initiative to solve the problem we have created ourselves. In the United States, the plan to eliminate fast food and obesity from overweight people will be tedious, gradual and slow. For minorities, children and other interested consumers to have a chance, there must be organizations restricting the advertising of food products. While fast food companies are winning the marketing battle, their success depends entirely on their loyal customers.
If people stop eating tempting fast foods and take the time to exercise during the day, not only do fast food companies suffer, but we also could free ourselves from our fate. Most importantly, media productions that inform people of the realities of the fast-food industry should continue to focus on the risks and consequences of obesity, particularly in those groups most affected by food and nutrition campaigns. marketing. fast food. The companies concerned are minorities and children. With increasing education and an active attitude toward regular exercise, people can begin to reverse the trend of obesity in the United States.
