Do you feel junk food ads should be banned?

Have you seen any recently you feel are 'False advertising junk food as healthy?' (please give examples)

This is for college Media research would appreciate it if you replied...

Thanx:)

Just because something is advertised, it does not mean you have to go out & buy it. I see adverts for Mc Donalds & KFC all the time, but would not dream of eating any of it. We all have a good idea what is healthy & what is not, so it is down to choice.

I don't think the ads should be banned, just more information being given about what they are advertising, yes the burgers look ok but they should also tell us how much crap is in them :o . It is then upto each person whether or not they subject their body to it.

While the previous poster [sultana] has a good point, you have to take into account the fact that fast food restaurants are sometimes guilty of making some pretty glaring omissions and even outright lying about their products.

McDonalds recently marketed a range of salads that were billed as a healthy alternative to its burgers, but they failed to note that the dressings they were served in were as full of fat and rubbish as the burgers.

They also claimed that their fries were suitable for vegetarians a few years back, despite the fact that they were cooking them in animal fat. That one got them in a lot of trouble.

You should read Eric Shlosser's "Fast Food Nation" for some real eye-openers about the fast food industry and its rather patchy track-record when it comes to customer care.

How come media studies students are all a little too dim to do their homework theirselves? Or maybe they are clever for getting people to do it for them?

Probably the former.

(Why not go to the book shop and get 'do not eat this book' by Morgan Spurlock? It will help you a lot!)

Please Reply!!!

Do junk advertisments aimed at kids influence their eating habbits?

Does the media play a guilty part in these increasing figures?

Examples of ads welcomed...

If the companies concerned didn't have hard data showing that adverts do affect what people, including children, eat they wouldn't spend such huge amounts of money on advertising.

Threads merged

It might also be worth noting that while SF members are a good source of information and generally a good barometer, plagiarism (and referencing with consent) needs to be a consideration. I'm sure if a research questionnaire (as is probably required for this project??)was posted members would respond.

i dont think child obesity stems from junk food advertisements.
in my opinion it is totally down to parents....
there are a lot of parents too lazy to activly do things with their children, so encouraging them to become couch potatoes with tvs games consoles in their rooms, for these parents its much easier to throw them upstairs to entertain themselves....OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND...these same parents probably dont make time to put together a decent meal. these children dont know any better and probably dont know what real meat, fruit and veg look like.
these poor children are probably exposed to this fast food through their parents who cant be bothered to cook and have the easy meal of a KACKTUCKY FRY, BULGER KING , MUCKYDONALDS

given that i'm able to keep my hands to myself when not faced with adverts for chocolate, cake, crisps, coke, beer, but am much more tempted and likely to give in if they're waved under my nose, i imagine the same is true for kids. yes, it is down to choice, but it's also darned tempting to eat a lovely bar of dairy milk when i see it advertised, even though i probably wouldn't have thought of it otherwise. banning junk food adverts would almost certainly lead to a reduction in obesity in children a few years down the line. i think the problem is in defining what constitutes 'junk' food - things like cheese, for instance, which make you fat but are full of calcium, and if you child doesn't drink milk, it's a very valuable source of the stuff.

yes, obesity is linked to advertising. let your child drink lots of coke and burgers and sweets = fat child (probably), definitely unhealthy (even if slim child). would it not be easier to keep children healthy and resist temptation if they didn't see the advertising? i am trying to lose baby weight still, but would find staying healthy a darned sight easier if i didn't see tempting things all the time. i'd love a burger king right now...bacon double cheeseburger...hmmmm.

i dont think child obesity stems from junk food advertisements.
in my opinion it is totally down to parents....
there are a lot of parents too lazy to activly do things with their children, so encouraging them to become couch potatoes with tvs games consoles in their rooms, for these parents its much easier to throw them upstairs to entertain themselves....OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND...these same parents probably dont make time to put together a decent meal. these children dont know any better and probably dont know what real meat, fruit and veg look like.
these poor children are probably exposed to this fast food through their parents who cant be bothered to cook and have the easy meal of a KACKTUCKY FRY, BULGER KING , MUCKYDONALDS


i think you're missing the OPs question - are adverts and obesity linked, not 'are parents to blame for letting their children see adverts, and are adverts linked to obesity'? surely it's easier to ban junk food advertising than to alter the mindset of a whole load of parents? unfortunately one suspects there may be certain socioeconomic trends that indicate that the kind of parent who lets their child watch lots of tv is also the kind of parent that eats at muckdonalds. parents who do neither aren't the problem. if the advertising was banned, at least hte child might not be so tempted to nag its parents to let it have chicken mucknuggits so it can have the toy?

If the companies concerned didn't have hard data showing that adverts do affect what people, including children, eat they wouldn't spend such huge amounts of money on advertising.

that's an excellent point. i now feel stoopid for not having thought of it myself.

most ppl think it is the childs fault for being over weight but if the parents fault if the parents simply said no or made them cut down on stuff like fizzy drinks sweets chocolate then there wouldnt be such a rise in obesity

Don't get me started....

In my view, they should be forced to be honest in adverts and food labelling on packaging. I'm fanatical about reading food labels but it seems many parents don't have the time, even if they can find the teeny tiny small print and then decipher it.

For example, my son was recently offered a "healthy snack" from another well meaning mum. The front of the package claimed in large letters "made from real fruit" but when I read the nutritional information, there was 26% sugar and what I described as "essence of fruit" (i'e' a tiny percentage). It was essentially a fruit flavoured sweet but you wouldn't have known this from the marketing.

It also riles me that packaging will claim to be low sugar (and then be high fat when you check the nutritional info) or vice versa - and very often both will be high salt - this seems to be especially true for breakfast cereals - I make my own, but why can't I just buy some that's healthy?

The food industry is a powerful group and lobbier of governments. I would have liked to have seen the "traffic light system" introduced but so far, in the face of food industry opposition, the government has backed down and continues to let the food industry confound and confuse consumers by dictating it's own terms. Grrrrrr