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Hilary Ochoa

Spacht

Adv. Freshman English Pd. 6

31 January 2018

Elimination of Fast Food Advertisements Targeting Children

In 2015, “...quick service or fast food restaurants spent $154 million on television

advertising aimed at the child demographic” (Bernhardt, et al). A total of $154 million was

utilized to attract children to fast food restaurants. That is a large sum of money indeed and the

use of it impacts children immensely. Fast food advertisements that target children should be

eliminated due to influence of negative behavior, the exploitation of childhood innocence, and

increasing obesity rates. Advertisements influence negative behaviors on children. To begin

with, marketers can use a trend or common interest to capture a child's attention. Their desire

grows for fast food. Then, the children viewing fast food advertisements try to persuade their

parents to purchase. Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-

American Meal, states that, “The bulk of the advertising directed at children today has an

immediate goal...get kids to nag their parents and nag them well” (43). Advertisers show children

appealing food choices that they then want to eat. Children will nag and annoy their parents until

they give him. The advertisements shown by fast food marketers are meant to get children to

nag in order to try and find a way to persuade their parents to purchase them fast food. As more

of these promotions are viewed by children, persuasion takes many forms. A lot the time it is

disrespectful and not appropriate. Ultimately, the publicity gives children the initiation to behave

poorly in order to convince their parents and receive fast food. Removing fast food

advertisements from the lives of children would then reduce behavioral issues. One of the
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techniques children use in order to get what they want are “demonstrative nags”. Schlosser

describes these nags as, “...the most high-risk, often characterized by full-blown tantrums in

public places, breath-holding, tears, refusal to leave the store” (44). The goal of child advertisers

results in different tactics children can use to convince their parents to buy the product advertised

including demonstrative nags. These demonstrative nags are characterized by tantrums in public

and disobedience as children refuse to leave the store if they do not get what they want. They are

clearly identified as issues in behavior since children can become uncontrollable. Through fast

food promotions, marketers hope to influence children with what is assumed they are interested

in and get them to nag their parents. There is constant enforcement from the marketers to behave

inappropriately in order for parents to purchase the fast food advertised. As Schlosser expressed,

the ideal result is for the child to whine and persuade their parents for the product. Such issues,

including those that are encouraged by marketers, do have a solution. Eliminating these

advertisements will make marketers incapable of displaying fast food as an appealing item to

children and in return, children will behave because their nagging does not have a purpose. As

there is an increase in fast food advertisements displayed and children continue to behave poorly,

parents tend to give in. This is, essentially, the marketers’ purpose. Advertisers want children to

nag to the extent their parents accept and purchase the child fast food. For most, what is asked

for or wished is not always granted. Elimination of child focused advertisements would aid in

reducing behavioral issues because there would not be constant enforcing for children to nag

their parents. Furthermore, advertisements are not only causing behavioral issues, but exploiting

the innocence of children. An adult is constantly conflicted with whether something is morally

correct, a young child who does not have the experience of an adult is taught what is “correct”.

Eric Schlosser stated that, “The typical preschooler now sees about three fast food ads on
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television every day. The typical teenager sees about five” (271). From the ages of

approximately three to five, children are already constantly exposed to fast food. This exposes

children to the idea of fast food as something they should desire and as something that is right.

At this age they are still intellectually immature. The exposure intensifies during a child’s

teenage years, a delicate time. These inexperienced, innocent children may not know how to

protect themselves and see what it is correct. These children are vulnerable. These

advertisements should be abolished because the minds of the children have yet to develop

completely. Along with this exposure, “The Char-acter Lab, a division of Youth Market System

Consulting, uses a proprietary technique called Character Appeal Quadrant Analysis to help

companies develop new mascots. The technique purports to create imaginary characters who

perfectly fit the targeted age group’s level of cognitive and neurological development”

(Schlosser 45). Marketers utilize the Character Appeal Quadrant Analysis technique to take

advantage of the intellectual immaturity in children. These children are not intellectually and

emotionally mature enough to see that they are being controlled by the advertisements they view.

The advertisements are built off the child’s immaturity because it is solely based on what they

can understand. Children cannot see beyond the characters on their screen. The youth cannot see

that it is all part of plan to gain their attention using their small understanding of the world. On

the other hand, those behind the constant promotions of fast food are adults and most times, have

a greater view on the world. They should be aware of what they are doing, which is taking

advantage of many children. Advertisements, or grown men and women, take advantage of the

fact children cannot make a well-rounded decision on whether something, such as fast food, is

correct. Elimination of these advertisements towards children will ensure their immaturity is not

taken advantage of by adult marketers. Additionally, as immaturity is exploited, childhood

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obesity rises. Fast food advertisements towards children contribute to this immensely. In a

survey completed by the National Bureau of Economic Research, “They found that a ban on fast

food TV ads during children's programming would reduce the number of overweight children

ages 3 to 11 in a fixed population by 18 percent and would reduce the number of overweight

adolescents ages 12 to 18 by 14 percent.” (“Win the Obesity War…By Banning TV Ads?”).

When child targeted fast food advertisements are eliminated, as they should be, the obesity rate

declines. This clearly shows that there is a correlation between child obesity and child targeted

fast food promotions. The decline is also not minimal. The percentage of overweight children

decreased by almost one-fifth through the ages of 3 to 11. If these forms of advertisements were

permanently abolished, the obesity rate would decline. An example of an individual who has

been effected by obesity is Ashley Pelman, a fourteen-year old girl in 2002 who, “...found herself

in an environment in which childhood obesity ran and continues to run at epidemic proportions

in the United States... For her, childhood obesity was (and is) attributed to societal factors—an

environment of fast food...and rampant marketing targeted at children” (Dawes 3). Laura Dawes,

a writer for the Harvard University Press, researched child obesity and its developments. As she

expressed, in society children are regularly exposed to fast food and its marketing. In the United

States, fast food restaurants and promotions are everywhere. Ashley, like many other children,

can walk or drive down a road and could have already seen several fast food restaurants.

Children now have quick access to fast food and could easily consume it. Consuming fast food

brings children closer to obesity. Sadly, today most children do not have to take a single step out

of their home to view promotions for unhealthy foods. One of the reasons being that as stated in

“Children’s Recall of Fast Food Television Advertising—Testing the Adequacy of Food

Marketing Regulation”, $154 million is used to market fast food to children on television. There
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is constant exposure to fast food and children are then being influenced by marketers to consume

it. When they do consume the fast food, it has a plethora of negative effects on their young

bodies. First off, as stated before, obesity, “a condition in which excess body fat accumulates,

which leads to various adverse effects on health, particularly cardiovascular diseases (CVDs),

which reduce life expectancy and/or increase health problems” (Shah, Trushna, et al). As more

advertisements solely focused on children are displayed the more likely it is for kids to become

obese. Obesity is not simple, it has a list of effects. The health of these children is and will

continue to suffer if production of these advertisements' proceeds. Eliminating the promotion of

fast food directly to children would effectively decrease the obesity rate of children. Ultimately it

is not simply advertisements. It all results in a quicker death. As production of fast food

advertisements increases so do the number of unhealthy choices made by the young. Elimination

of fast food advertisements could be saving the lives of an abundance of innocent and immature

children. To this day and moment, child focused fast food advertisements are currently still being

produced. There must be change. Most children are exposed to these promotions daily. The

number of children viewing a fast food advertisement currently could be immense. Children

view thousands and each one affects their behavior, manipulates them and pulls them closer to

their death. Eliminating child targeted advertisements would resolve this issue and many others.

The issues fast food advertisements present are constantly altering children’s lives for the worse.
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Work Cited

Bernhardt, Amy M., et al. “Children’s Recall of Fast Food Television Advertising—

Testing the Adequacy of Food Marketing Regulation.” PLoS ONE, vol. 10, no. 3,

4 Mar. 2015, pp. 1–12. Academic Search Premier. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.

Dawes, Laura. Childhood Obesity in America. Harvard University Press, 2014. eBook

Collection. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Houghton

Mifflin Harcourt, 2001.

Shah, Trushna, et al. “Assessment of Obesity, Overweight and Its Association with the

Fast Food Consumption in Medical Students.” Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic

Research, vol. 8, no. 5, May 2014, pp. 5–7. Academic Search Premier. Accessed

5 Nov. 2018.

“Win the Obesity War…By Banning TV Ads?” Running & FitNews, vol. 26, no. 6, Nov.

2008, pp. 2–5. Health Source - Consumer Edition. Accessed 29 Nov. 2018.