The obesity epidemic is at an all-time high in the United States and it is time that the government steps in to try and combat this epidemic before it continues to grow. States have tried to implement things like making caloric value information available on menus, placing taxes on unhealthy foods, and even placing zoning restrictions on fast food chains but these have been ineffective thus far. It is now time for a new approach to try and combat this problem. Children are easily influenced so we think that by starting with regulations on what’s marketed to them, we will begin to see shifts in obesity trends as they grow older. We are asking the Governor to consider placing restrictions on advertisements that are targeted toward children and teenagers.
In 2019, the fast-food industry spent more than $5 billion on advertising, and most kids aged 2-17 viewed more than 2 fast food TV ads per day (UCONN Rudd Center). The more that kids are exposed to these advertisements the more likely they are to consume and prefer fast food. The government should regulate how much money fast food companies spend on advertising to children and what types of ads they are shown. Ads geared towards children from fast food companies should be limited to a set amount per television program. For example, allowing one fast food commercial per hour of programming. This would also apply to shows, movies, and videos geared towards children on streaming services such as Hulu and YouTube as well. In addition to limiting the number of fast-food ads that kids are shown, there should also be regulations on how characters from popular children’s TV shows, movies, games, and celebrities are used in marketing campaigns. Children prefer food and items that have their favorite characters on them. By removing these characters from fast food ads, kids’ meals, and TV programs and switching these characters to ads centered around healthy eating, children will begin to prefer healthier options since their favorite characters are the ones promoting this lifestyle.
In addition to regulating the number of fast-food commercials and characters used in them, parents of school-age children should also be educated on obesity and what they can do so that their child is not part of the statistic. This could be done by a mandatory, once-a-year, informational session at their child’s school or by social media ad campaigns. By implementing a combination of all three of these ideas we will hopefully begin to see improvement in childhood obesity and a decrease in obesity rates when their adults as well. Let’s start building healthy habits in our children now.
Photo from UBC Blogs.