information

Advertisement is defined as it follows: to announce or praise (a product, service, etc.) in some public medium of communication in order to induce people to buy or use it. Advertising campaigns for fast food restaurants have changed over time. In recent years, the fast food industry in the United States has viewed children and teenagers as a foremost market force. Experts in advertising campaigns focus in youth because they are easy to influence. Several techniques and media are used to influence children to consume junk food. Fast food advertisement ranges from in-school marketing, television advertising, the Internet and toys. 

Focusing on children and teenagers as a target in advertisement campaigns is simply wrong. Toddlers, especially the little ones, may not be able to distinguish advertisements from regular programs and have little perceptive of their influential intent. According to Schlosser (2002), “Not satisfied with marketing to children through playgrounds, toys, cartoons, movies, videos, charities, and amusement parks, through contests, sweepstakes, games, and clubs, via television, radio, magazines, and the Internet, fast food chains are now gaining access to the last advertising-free outposts of American life.” Using kids’ favorite characters and involving products with concepts such as fun, happiness and well-being, food advertisements can effectively attract children to consume their products. Gallo (2005) states, “The U.S. Department of Agriculture spent $333.3 million in fiscal year 1997 on nutrition education, evaluation, and demonstrations. This is approximately what the food industry spent on advertising just for coffee, tea, and cocoa, or for snacks and nuts; slightly more than half (60 percent)…” The government is making an effort to regulate media advertisement, however I believe it is not enough. The government is coming up with new policies and laws, but I think they are too generalized, when they should been strongly strict and specific.

The government wanted to take action against false advertisement by creating some policies. One of these policies is that if fast food advertising is false or materially deceptive then laws of the state govern penal action.  Additionally a complaint may be filed with Federal Trade Commission (FTC). In filing a complaint with FTC you have to show that advertisement is false and misleading. However, the fast food industry protects itself in every possible way. For example, if a person wants to sue a fast food restaurant because she/he saw an advertisement where a burger looked way different than it actually is, the restaurant would win the case. In this case if the complaint pertains to claim for making burgers, it may be difficult to classify, as false claim because taste by person differs consequently exact nature of claim and how it is misleading must be shown.

On a study made by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Powell (2007) says, “Food ads made up over one quarter of TV ads viewed by adolescents with the most commonly viewed products of fast food, sweets, and beverage products well within the reach of their own purchasing power.” By these words we can assume that television advertising contributes to obesity among children and teenagers. I believe government should take a major action to regulate this massive wrong advertisement. 

problem!

Abstract

Fast food restaurants had taken over American society, and it seems like no one cares about how bad fast food is to the human’s body and economy. This community problem is to inform the importance of knowing what you eat, where does it comes from and what are its consequences. It provides research information from specialists on the topic, as well as statistics. This document informs the reader, on how fast food is directly related to America’s today problem: obesity.

The Negative Effects of Fast Food: obesity

Over the last three decades, fast food has gained access to every corner and nook of American society. A business that started as a modest hamburger stand has extend all throughout the nation, selling a wide range of unhealthy foods wherever customers willing to pay may be found. Schlosser (2002) explains that, “In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion.” Fast food is now served at high schools, elementary schools, universities, airplanes, airports, gas stations, groceries stores and even at hospital cafeterias.

            The problem of consuming fast food is not only how unhealthful this is, but the fact that, Americans are spending a lot of money on food that is not only damaging their wallets, but their own health.  The whole experience of buying fast food has become a daily routine that is now taken for granted especially by kids and teenagers. Media advertisement plays an important role nowadays; as children learn to read and to watch television, they also start learning and, wrongly understanding, that eating at fast-food restaurants is a must in their lives.

The purpose of the following community problem is to inform American society what really is behind the fast-food restaurants chains, how they affect not only a person’s body and health, but also their economy. Also, this is to report how advertising manipulates a person’s own decision-making on what to or not to eat, from a baby to a grown-up individual.

Why is it bad to consume a lot of fast food?

Fast food has become an important feature of the diet of children in the

United States and throughout the world. Consumption of fast food among children in America seems to have an unpleasant effect on dietary quality in ways that probably could increase risk for obesity. (PEDIATRICS, 2004. Pg. 112)

It has been proven that the consumption of fast food adversely affects dietary factors linked to obesity risk. Fast-food consumption has a strong association with weight gain and insulin resistance, suggesting that this type of food increases the risk of not only obesity, but type 2 diabetes (Pereira, 2005. Pg. 36). According to Schlosser (2002), “Fast food is tasty and convenient but the price we pay to eat it goes well beyond the tab at the cash register.” Fast food restaurants evolve cruelty to animals (cows crowed together in feedlots while being fattened for slaughter) and cruelty to humans (fast-moving lines that lead slaughterhouse workers into accidentally stabbing themselves and others). (Schlosser, 2002) Researchers suggest that it is very easy for food-borne pathogens to get into ground beef and how this pathogens cause much sickness and death every year. (KnowledgeWharton, 2001) Fast-food contains ingredients that cause customers become addicted to their food, therefore when a kid tastes for the first time a hamburger or a hot dog, he wants more and more as he grows up, making him dependable of this ingredients.

What are some of the effects of fast-food?

Fast food is a driving force behind the childhood obesity epidemic and a host of diet related health conditions, predisposing kids to a lifetime of health problems. Diets high in unhealthy food – such as fast food – increase the probability that a kid will develop type 2 diabetes, liver disease, and even asthma. (Corporate Accountability International, 2004) People with obesity are 92% more likely to experience asthmatic symptoms such as, breathlessness and chest tightness. Obesity is largely driving the recent increase in childhood type 2 diabetes, which used to be exceedingly rare in children. Today, obesity surpasses both hepatitis and alcohol abuse as the most common cause of liver disease, and all this narrows down to the mistaken American culture of fast food. (Corporate Accountability International, 2004) People are increasingly being warned against the ill effects of fast food and the potential damage they pose to the human health. The effects of fast food include nutritional deficiencies, obesity, increased cholesterol levels, cardiac problems and many other threatening health hazards. (Manohar, 2000) Fast food not only affects the human body’s health but a person’s budget. In the United States alone, people spend $100 billion on fast food every year, which is almost 40 times than what was spent in 1970s. (Naik, 2010) According to Naik (2010), “Approximately 25 percent of the American population resorts to fast food on a daily basis.” Fast food joints are also being seen as a factor that is making a number of families spend less and less time together. Family meal-time is something considered as an opportunity for all the members to come together and share their experiences. However, the fast food restaurants are quickly eating into this quality time. (Bose, 2009) Fast food and obesity go hand in hand. A diet that lacks essential nutrients results in poor dietary fiber levels in the body. Since fast food is addictive in nature, it causes one to buy more and eat more of it.  Effects of fast food are not only in the human body, but in his/her surroundings and the environment where they evolve.

How does advertising contribute to what we consume?

Advertising campaigns for fast food restaurants have changed over time. Most fast food restaurants target their advertising at children and students - an important market for them. Food marketers are interested in youth as consumers because of their spending power, their purchasing influence, and as future adult consumers. (Story, 2004) Food marketing include television advertising, in-school marketing, product placements, the Internet, toys and products with brand logos, and youth-targeted promotions. Not satisfied with marketing to children through playgrounds, toys, cartoons, movies, videos, charities, and amusement parks, through contests, sweepstakes, games, and clubs, via television, radio, magazines, and the Internet, fast food chains are now gaining access to the last advertising-free outposts of American life. (Schlosser, 2002) Foods marketed to children are predominantly high in sugar and fat, and as such are inconsistent with national dietary recommendations. (Story, 2004) Moreover, children – especially younger ones – may not be able to distinguish advertisements from regular programs and have little understanding of their persuasive intent. Using children’s favorite characters and linking products with concepts such as fun, happiness, and well-being, food advertisements can successfully attract children to consume their products.

Nevertheless, the effect of television advertising on childhood obesity is complex, dealing with the interplay between the characteristics of the children, the attitudes of their parents, and environmental settings. (Chou, 2006)

Conclusion

A generation ago, three-quarters of the money used to buy food in the United States was spent to prepare meals at home. Today about half of the money used to buy food is spent at restaurants - mainly at fast food restaurants. (Schlosser, 2002) Hundreds of millions of people buy fast food every day without giving it much thought, unaware of the subtle and not so subtle consequences of their purchases. American consumers rarely consider where this food came from, how it was made, what it is doing to the community around them.  Customers just grab their tray off the counter, find a table, take a seat, unwrap the paper, and dig in.

References

Bose, D. (2009). Advantages and disadvantages of fast food. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-fast-food.html

Bowman, S. (2004). Effects of fast-food consumption on energy intake and diet quality among children in a national household survey. PEDIATRICS, 113(1), 112-118.

Johnson, P. (2010). Is fast food bad for you. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/is-fast-food-bad-for-you.html

Manohar, U. (2000). Fast food facts: effects of fast food. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fast-food-facts-effects-of-fast-food.html

Nalk, A. (2010, October 25). Fast food facts. Retrieved from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/fast-food-facts.htm

Pereira, M. (2005). Fast-food habits, weight gain, and insulin resistance (the cardia study): 15-year prospective analysis. THE LANCET, 365(9453), 36-42.

Schlosser, E. (2002). Fast food nation: the dark side of the all-american meal. New York, NY: Perennial.

Annotated Bibliography

Boneberger, A., von Kries, R., Milde-Busch, A., Bolte, G., Rochat, M. K., & Rückinger, S. (2009). Association between peer relationship problems and childhood overweight/obesity. Acta Paediatrica, 98(12), 1950-1955. doi:10.1111/j.1651-2227.2009.01484.x

The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between characteristic problems and overweight/obesity, in 5 to 6 year old boys and girls. In how the parental obesity, maternal smoking in pregnancy, snacking while TV watching, low parental education, high TV consumption, and high birth weight are associated with overweight/obesity, and the probability  that Childhood obesity leads to have serious problems and  tend to stay obese in adulthood.

Callwood, G. B., Campbell, D., Gary, F., & Radelet, M. L. (2012). Health and Health Care in the U.S. Virgin Islands: Challenges and Perceptions. ABNF Journal, 23(1), 4-7

This research was designed to discover how residents of the United States Virgin Islands think about their health, health status, health problems, and the quality of the health care delivery system. This article is useful because it provides very current information into how the people of this city know their own problems and what disease they can have if they don’t protect or prevent. 

Neighborhood fast food restaurants and fast food consumption: A national study. (2011). BMC Public Health, 11(1), 543-550. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-11-543.

This article has the effect of the fast food consumption in young adults in the U.S, and has a high risk for obesity. And the neighborhood fast food restaurant promotes more consumption. So they want to reduce the consumption of fast food in young adults .and have a better preferences about when we decide to eat something.

H. B., Binns, H. J., Meadow, W. L., & Tanz, R. R. (2006). Marketing Fast Food: Impact of Fast Food Restaurants in Children's Hospitals. Pediatrics, 118(6), 2290-2297. doi:10.1542/peds.2006-1228

This has the objective, to determine how hospitals environment affects purchase and perception of fast food. Because this restaurants “McDonald’s” prevalence in hospitals with pediatric residencies. So fast food consumption is the most common among hospitals that have McDonalds’ restaurants than just fast food. But also because McDonald’s is a big company who give to the hospitals a great financial support. This is very important because we see how a place that is not healthy in their food, have a good relation with this association in the hospitals.

, I., Curioni, C., & Sichieri, R. (2012). Association between eating out of home and body weight. Nutrition Reviews, 70(2), 65-79. doi:10.1111/j.1753-4887.2011.00459.x

This source explains how affect to the society the eating outside of the home. Because when we eat out of home, the food has a usually high in energy content, and contributes to excessive energy and obesity. And this problem is more frequently in adults over 18 years of age. And for better result they recommend that fast-food restaurants should be analyses by a positive association that control the good and bad aliments. With this can also provide the data of the better result of the people who is doing a good diet for the preventions of symptoms that the obesity produce, like heart attacks

Todd, T. P., Winterbauer, N. E., & Bouton, M. E. (2012). Contextual control of appetite. Renewal of inhibited food-seeking behavior in sated rats after extinction. Appetite, 58(2), 484-489. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.12.006

This article studies the inhibition of food-seeking behavior, and how contextual cues can control it. And how obesity, and overeating have become fundamental problems in modern society.  Also this article shows to us some experiments that the company does with children’s that prefer and ice cream than a snack food that is better for their organism. Because, the humans are more motivated to eat food that is more modern for the society, like, ships, burger, fast food, than healthy food. This is important for my research because it directly links about the exactly problem of these aliments disorders. 

Winter, C. F., Bastiaanse, L. P., Hilgenkamp, T. M., Evenhuis, H. M., & Echteld, M. A. (2012). Overweight and obesity in older people with intellectual disability. Research In Developmental Disabilities, 33(2), 398-405. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.09.022

This article focuses on the overweight and obesity in the people. The increased cardio vascular disease risk, because most of the people have a big percent of body mass. Also in this article the association of overweight and obesity, have participants with a lot of different characteristics, like their gender, age, people with Down syndrome, autism or people who have their independent living. With this information we can know that all people, no matter their own characteristics can have a seriously problem of obesity.

fast food problems!!!

Global pulse; obesity, a documentary who show us the obesity problems around the world like, in Mexico, China, US, and India. The video I selected represents the world wide struggle between society and obesity. A lot of countries are going to this problem. Do to the excessive opening of fast food restaurants. True this video I can infer that the creator of this documentary wants the audience to understand why obesity it’s becoming a huge issue around the world. The audience may visualize the extent of the situation by looking of the images and interviews presented in the video.

Ethos

The video has ethos because the presenters give out a lot of information to convince the audience. The audience is able to relate to this Cain of information because of the visuals and examples given out. Adding real pictures, of real people adds much of the credibility of the documentary. Like “in 2015 they have health predictions of, 2.3 billion of overweight and 700 million obese”.

Pathos

As it comes to pathos, the video appeals to the audience emotions, because of the realistic images presented. The audience emotions, because of the realistic images presented. The audience is able to understand the fact that they might be relate to the country problems presented. Looking out obese children makes us, as the audience feels the urge to stop consuming these fast foot problems. Examples of the images in this video we show how obesity is in the world, as well as the type of food they eat, such as candy, soda, hamburgers, chips etc. And is that most of these people are children, who look with larger body of its age, and can reach with problems like breathing or heart attacks. But we can also see that in several countries have to help these people as physical activity, whether dance, sports, jumping and above all have a good supply.

Logos

The video has logos because when a person consumes a lot of junk food, it is logical that he/she will gain weight. As you can see, the video contains a lot of facts and statistic’s, stating the gravity of the matter. An also show us how we can resolve this problems with campaigns encouraging exercise for adults and children, and the avoidance of fatty foods. As these broadcasters make clear, tackling the problem of childhood obesity requires parental involvement and better access to healthy food.

Conclusion

This video portrays all the rhetorical appeals, and makes it easy for the audience to relate and understand the extent of the obesity problem worldwide. That’s why I select this video, because this video because each year the increase in obesity in the world grows more and this can produce serious illnesses and even death. That’s why we need increased campaigns to help children or adults in sports, so as shown in the video, but mostly have a good and healthy food in our daily lives.

Sources :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfENV7cW3eE

discourse community

My discourse community

Usually all in this life we have a plan or goals to be met, and today I decided to have a good plan for my life, and to have a good plan needs to take account of very important people around me, as well as my parents, brothers, cousins, grandparents, teachers, instructors, friends and priests. Because are part of my life and my all complements.

Is important to enjoy every moment with your family, especially your parents and brothers, as a support for each of them and be a good daughter and sister, and know I can count on them in any circumstance of life, we also respect and correspond all the love they give me to help with chores, cleaning my room, washing dishes, notice when you leave aside early return to my house , give us support when we have some problems , take care of each member of the family and all those little things that makes a good family.

 An important part of my plan is my school, new teachers and classmates in where from there will arise the great friendships, or future doctors, teachers, graduates etc. but you need to put much effort and dedication in everything we do, like having a good discipline, arrive early for my classes and demonstrate my ability to the fullest. Of course respecting my schedule of classes, my teachers and properly finish all the responsibilities I am given. And my big goal to is graduate.

And friends are so very essential in life, are great fun and you always finding you wherever you go and also a friend have the responsibility to keep the secrets because we trust them. Is very important to choose friends, because a good friend is going to grow as a person and you will be able to trust the ones with their errors and defects and respecting their views on any conversation, be confident when you encounter her, respect and tolerate your boyfriend or girlfriend even if I do not like them. And always be in every moment that friends need me.

Finally it is interesting that we all have a plan and it is also important to know that this plan can be done we need to surround ourselves with good people like your family, teachers and friends who can support and guide you in this wonderful life plan.