Marketing Unhealthy food to Children

Marketing Unhealthy food in Children Name of student Instructor’s name Institution Date due Marketing Unhealthy food in Children The purpose of this paper is to discuss marketing of unhealthy food to children, considering the role of electronic media such as television. Adverts are part of marketing and children perceive them in a particular way. In looking at the perception of children about adverts, the paper will demonstrate that children are easy targets for marketers of unhealthy food. Since children have perpetual access to television and other media, they are always exposed to these types of adverts. Recently, there have been some efforts to control the role of marketing in promoting unhealthy eating habits in children as it will be shown here. In addition, the diseases and conditions that children risk suffering from if they eat unhealthy foods will be outlined. Thesis Statement With the understanding of the many negative effects of unhealthy foods on children, and how this age group is vulnerable, marketing of these foods is not right. As it stands, the penetration of adverts about unhealthy foods is high and should be stopped, or at least controlled. Discussion In recent years, the number of children suffering from food related ailments has raised concern among governments and people at large. On the forefront of these bad foods is junk food which is a delicacy for many children. Food manufacturing and distribution companies invest a lot of money in advertising to tap into the huge market. The problem is, some of the adverts are about unhealthy food for children. When children consume these foods which contain high sugar and fat content, they are exposed to diabetes, blood pressure and other serious diseases. The negative effects on children choices were highlighted in the Food Politic Magazine recently. The author talks of how adverts are directed to children. And there seems to be no serious efforts to stop this kind of advertisement. As the author of this article says, “low-level candy shelf marketing possibly has a decent shelf life ahead of it...” (Mendelso . 2013) One thing that marketers know is that once they have aroused the desire in the consumer, most of their work is done. From research, it is evident that once children are exposed to adverts, their behaviours change. All of a sudden, the child starts demanding specific products from the parent or the guardian. All this is a result of the games played by the big food companies; it is a psychological strategy. Take for example the well-known advert about Chuck E. Cheese. Here, a scenario of “where a kid can be a kid” is created. The end result is that the child will demand a pizza, cheese, fries etc. just to be a kid. (Mendelso . 2013) Some people would say that parents are to blame for yielding to the demands of their children when it comes to junk food. Today’s parents are seen to be too permissive to their children even in instances that demand some level of sternness. As Chang et, al. observes, children are influenced by adverts they see on the television or their peers. Such children demand to have that product just because they saw it on television or saw their friend using it (Chung et , al. 2012) . Blaming the parents for such a situation is not right because the children are simply being swayed by targeted marketing. Even if the parent refuses to agree to the demands of the child, such a child has already made up the mind that the product is good. After th...