Building up a Bigger America By Advertising Junk Food In Schools

Fast food restaurants use different marketing strategies such as fantasy elements, utopian characters internet and TV ads to manipulate kids and teenagers, whom are their main consumers. Therefore these chains want to get access to them, not only by TV commercial or website clubs, but ultimately in schools. As a result of this, young people are not being well educated in school about health care, and good eating habits, and consequently are being affected by different diseases such as obesity, Type II diabetes and bone fractures.
Public schools used to be a place that kept students from the advertising of junk food. But now, they have become the main spot for these companies to conduct economic interests. The junk food companies have different strategies to promote their products in schools. There are many different ways to advertise junk food in schools such as posters in the walls, ads in the school newspaper, logos in athletic scoreboards and sponsorship banners in gym. The schools that sale junk food in vending machines depends somehow on these companies, which supply technological materials for students; “the spiraling cost of textbooks has led thousands of American school district to use corporate-sponsored teaching materials”, states Eric Schlosser in the chapter “My Trusted Friends” (55). In the article “US Schools hooked on Junk food proceeds” by David Nakumara it is stated that “through contracts with soft drinks companies and other vendors, some schools are raising as much as $100,000 a year.” These companies have programs to help students financially; for instance, according to www.fastweb.com Coca-Cola first Generation Scholarship grants $ 5000 to Indian American Students who are in their first or second semester of college, Pizza Hut Reading contest gives kids a free pizza if they reach a reading goal. By this, Fast food brands are trying to get student’s loyalty and make them think that they care about their education. As a result of this, students, especially young kids, will work harder to get better grades and keep eating their favorite junk food, because they know that they will get a price for it.
Likewise, McDonalds also offered free food in schools. “The Campaign for a commercial-free childhood: reclaiming childhood from corporate marketers” mentions that “Children in kindergarten through fifth-grade had been receiving their report cards in envelopes adorned with Ronald McDonald promising a free Happy Meal to students with good grades, behavior, or attendance”, this occurred in Seminole County Florida, but it ended when the parents started complaining about it. Moreover most fast food chains have posters in hallways and in School buses. “Corporate Accountability international: challenging abuse protecting people” states in its website (www.stopcorporateabuse.org) that “ 20 percent of public schools sell branded fast food and if a school doesn’t sell it, there will be a location nearby.” Marketers know that one of the most important thing they must keep in mind in order to attract customers to a restaurant or make them buy a certain product, is the location where the product will be sale. Students are much likely to get breakfast from a McDonald’s than take it from home, as well as go to lunch after school. It has been proven that food locations near schools and other public places have greater sales than others.
In addition, soft drinks, such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper have become the leader beverages in public schools, especially in middle and elementary schools. In the book “A Fast Food Nation” chapter “My Trusted Friends” by Eric Schlosser states that “twenty years ago, teenage boys in the Unites States drank twice as much milk as soda; now they drink twice as much soda as milk” (54). This infers that young people are replacing water and milk with soda. Even though milk could have more calories than a can of soda, it’s hardly recommended that people take at least three glasses of milk a day. Milk is needed for your bone structure, and as a result of a lack of its consumption diseases related to bones deficiencies are more common.
Selling sodas in schools has become a great sales project for these companies. The more beverages sold they have, the more commission for the District and soft drinks companies. According to Eric Schlosser, in the chapter “My trusted friends”, “these companies control 90.3 percent of the US market, but have been hurt by declining sales in Asia” (53). The marketers take advantage of the influence that kids have in their parents to buy certain products. The intention of these advertisers is to try to change people’s behavior and keep the brand loyalty.
The explosion of advertising junk food in school has influenced young people and their parents to purchase unhealthy food and beverages which may cause several health problems such as and calcium deficiencies as well as obesity, which is the cause for type II diabetes and heart diseases. In addition, Obesity in childhood increased from 5% in 1964 to a 13% in 1994, and today is a 20%. The presence of junk food in schools contributes rapidly to the epidemic of this disease and students are much likely to get a candy bar and a soda rather than fruits or vegetables.
Soda and other sugary drinks has been targeted as the main cause of the increment of obesity rates among young people, however is not the only source of calories and sugar that student consume at school. Snacks such as M&M’s, Twix, and other candy bars as well as any kind of chips are also part of the diet. And while the obesity rate in US is increasing, the government is looking for strategies to help to overcome this problem; David Patterson governor of New York, proposed taxes on soft drinks and other sugary drinks in December 2008, the proposal is still in debate, but honestly it seems that this strategy won’t work as expected specially when the expenses on advertising junk food are greater than what the government spend to educate students about healthy habits and nutrition. The article “Food advertising & marketing directed at children’s and adolescents in the US” by Mary Story and Simone French, states that in 1997 the total expenses for confectionery and snacks was $1 billion. On the contrary, in the same year, the US Department of agriculture spent only $330 million on nutritional education. More aggressive strategies are needed to combat obesity among young people, and that would be treating the problem from its roots. The Obama administration has announced a plan to ban candy and junk food from schools. Likewise, the first lady Michelle Obama started a campaign against childhood obesity. This seems to be more meaningful than the soda taxes.
After home, school is the place where kids and adolescents spend more time, also is where they adopt different habits and ideas. As a result of this students should be better educated in health and nutrition which shouldn’t be less important than math and science. And the first step to give them the better role model is banning junk food and sugary drinks from school. Young kids learned and copy the things they see, so why give them a bad role model about their food choices if we can encourage them to have a healthier life?





“WORKS CITED”

1- Schlosser, Eric. “My Trusted Friends.” Fast Food Nation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001. 31-58.Print.

2- Story, Mary & French, Simone. “Food Advertising & Marketing Directed at Children & Adolescents In The US”. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. Division of epidemiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis US. February 10, 2004.


3- Campaign from Commercial-free Childhood: reclaiming childhood from corporate marketers. http://www.commercialfreechildhood.org

4- Nakumura, David. “US Schools Hooked On Junk Food Proceeds”. Washington Post. February 27, 2001.

5- Scholarship search. www.fastweb.com

Essay Outline

Outline:
Topic: Fast food industry taking kids as the “money maker” machine
(working) Thesis Statement: targeting kids as the junk food’s major consumer, as well as advertising these products in school lead them to have an unhealthy diet which causes many diseases.
Introduction: will be written last
Main Ideas:
1st paragraph: the fast industry targeted kids as their main costumers.
2nd paragraph: the fast food industry is advertising in public schools.
3rd paragraph: advertising in public schools lead children to have an unhealthy diet.
4th paragraph: kid’s diet is the main cause of obesity, type II diabetes and calcium related diseases.
Conclusion: will be written last
Body Paragraph 1:
Fast food restaurants use different marketing strategies to manipulate kids, whom are their main consumer. These restaurants create fantasy elements, promotional toys, playgrounds in their locations, and web site clubs to gather information about their favorite customers; before the marketers change kid’s behavior they have to know their wants. Fast food restaurants have access to kids 24 hours a day, 7 days a week through TV commercials, and internet. “a typical American child spend twenty-one hours watching TV ” and watches more than thirty thousand TV commercials per year. “A kid who loves our TV commercials, and brings her grandparents to a McDonald’s gives us two more customers”, explained Ray Kroc, owner of McDonalds. The strategy of these companies is to have the kids dream about a utopian place where everything is possible, where they want to belong to and to get their loyalty and trust. Eric Schlosser states in the chapter entitled “Your Trusted Friends” (42) that, children are more able to recognize a brand logo before they could even know their names. Kids are important customers for marketers because “they have more influence in their parent’s decision to buy the products that they want and also they are the adult’s consumer of the future”. Since 1980, when the explosion in children’s advertising occurred, kids are being targeted not only by fast food restaurants, but by phone companies, oil companies, foods and cleaning products, clothing stores, as well as soft drinks. These chains want to get access to kids, not only by TV or website clubs, but ultimately in schools.

Body Paragraph 2:
Public schools used to be a place that kept children from the advertising of junk food. But now, they have become the main spot for these companies to conduct economic interests. The fast food restaurants have different strategies to promote their products in schools and the most important thing, keep the brand image up, making the customers believe that they care about their education; “We value the importance of education and have a long-standing commitment to its support,” is a quote from McDonald’s scholarships webpage. One strategy is to supply technological materials for students; “the spiraling cost of textbooks has led thousands of American school district to use corporate-sponsored teaching materials”, states Eric Schlosser in the chapter “My Trusted Friends” (55). They have programs to help students financially; for instance, Coca-Cola first Generation Scholarship, which grant $ 5000 to Indian American Students who are in their first or second semester of college; Pizza Hut Reading contest, which give kids a free pizza if they reach a reading goal. Likewise, McDonalds also offered free food in schools. The Campaign for a commercial-free childhood: reclaiming childhood from corporate marketers, mentions that “Children in kindergarten through fifth-grade had been receiving their report cards in envelopes adorned with Ronald McDonald promising a free Happy Meal to students with good grades, behavior, or attendance”, this occurred in Seminole County Florida, but it ended when the parents started complaining about it. Moreover most fast food chains have posters in hallways and in School buses. “Corporate Accountability international: challenging abuse protecting people” states in its website (www.stopcorporateabuse.org) that “ 20 percent of public schools sell branded fast food and if a school doesn’t sell it, there will be a location nearby.”

MLA annotated Bibliography of The Food System and Diseases

Big Food v. Big Insurance, By Michael Pollan, New York Times, September 10, 2009
Section A: Column 0: Editorial Desk: OP-ED contributor; page 43

According to this article, the diseases that cause the government more money in the United States are Obesity, Type II diabetes and cardiovascular problems. It also explains that the American Diet is the main cause of these diseases. The government is subsidizing the cost of the health care system and the consumption of HFCS. The system of farm subsidies makes junk food cheaper and therefore, people eat it more than healthy food.

Surveys: Consumers want food guidance, by Michelle Greenhalgh, March 4, 2010
www.foodsafetynews.com

This article states that a recent survey by foodminds shows that Americans are paying more attention to food labels than before. The author also shows the percentage of people who agree with the government’s decision to stop junk food advertising to children. However, some other people are against taxes on soft drinks and foods high in calories. On the other hand, a seventy-seven percent indicated that if their favorite foods have a warning label they would stop eating it.

Corn: a sweet cause of obesity and therefore, diabetes.

During the 19th century American farmers were producing too much corn which was the first ingredient in alcohol. Over the time, farmers found new uses for this crop. The most common use was the creation of HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup), which is a sweetener made by changing the sugar in corn to fructose. The final result is a combination of glucose and fructose. Because it is cheaper than sugar, easy to transport and keeps food in good condition for a longer period of time, HFCS has become a popular ingredient in Sodas, ketchup, jams, jellies, juices, snacks, bread, cereal, fast food, and almost all processed food that we consume. As a result of this, HFCS seems to be impossible to avoid. Moreover, the use of this sweetener instead of sugar has created criticism among researchers about the effects of this ingredient. Some allege that HFCS is healthier than sucrose; while others claim that the low cost of HFCS encourages overconsumption of sugar, making it the bigger cause of Obesity and Diabetes in America.
Obesity has being considered as an epidemic, because is the biggest health problem we face. According to Michael Pollan, the author of “The Consumer: A Republic of Fat”, “Obesity cost the health care system and estimated $90 billion a year. Three of five Americans are overweight; one of every five is obese.” obesity occurs when people eat more calories than the calories that they burn; having a diet high in fat and sugar contribute to this disease, as well as the lack of exercise, and the lack of money to buy whole foods, which are healthier. As a result of this, people will buy cheaper food which contains HFCS and will eat more fat and sugar. In 1980, when HFCS was developed in American’s diet, the obesity rate was 15% and now it has increased tremendously to a 33%. While Diabetes, a disease first known in adults, has been renamed Type II diabetes since it now occurs in children.
Type II diabetes occurs when the body does not make enough insulin which helps the carbohydrates in foods to be used as energy. The body don’t recognize the sources of these carbohydrates, however, even though HFCS could not be the main cause of diabetes, the overconsumption have a significant role in this disease as well as in obesity. According to a 2004 study reported in the American journal of Clinical Nutrition, the rise of Type II diabetes since 1980 is paralleled to the increased use of Corn Syrup. HFSC does not reduce the hunger; therefore there is no feeling of satiety. Likewise, Michael Pollan states in chapter six “the Consumer: A Republic of fat” of the book “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” that, “since 1985, the consumption of HFCS has gone from forty-five pounds to sixty six pounds. During the same period our consumption of refined sugar actually went up by five pounds”. This makes us infers that we are getting HFCS on top of the sugars we were already consuming. People diagnosed with Diabetes are eating less sugar than before, but they could be ingesting more corn sweeteners.
In conclusion, the overproduction of corn since 19th century has made this crop the number one ingredient in American’s diet, since is the most important and cheaper source of calories in the supermarkets. Leading people to over consume it and therefore be one of the biggest causes of obesity and diabetes. To avoid this, it’s important to read the food labels of the food we eat. It has been proven that when people are better informed about a subject, they have more power to make better decisions.



Michael Pollan. “The Consumer: A Republic of Fat”. The Omnivore’s Dilemma; The Secrets Behind What You Eat. New York: Dial, 2009. 100-108.

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. www.ajcn.org

Are taxes on soda a strategy to fight against obesity or against your pocket?

We all know that Soda and other sugary drinks are not good for our health, but most people continue to drink them. According to the article “A tax to combat America’s Sugary Diet” by Jane E. Brody, “these soft drinks contribute 7 percent of the calories Americans consume, making them the leading source of added sugar and the single largest source calories in our diet”. However, it has been proven that cigarettes cause lung cancer, and even though the taxes on cigarettes are high, that does not prevent people from smoking. Taxing sodas and other sugary drinks will not stop people from buying them; most Americans know that these drinks could be very addictive, and if you are one of those people who accompanies your breakfast, lunch and dinner with a soda and you see yourself in a position in which you can’t stop drinking it, it won’t matter if you have to pay a few more cents. Or even better you could go to a “tax free” state such as New Jersey to get soda. The government should not decide what kind of lifestyle American citizens should have.

Sandy Douglas, president of Coca-Cola North America, states that “Soft Drinks, sweetened waters and energy drinks combined account for only 5.5 percent of the American diet, according to the National Cancer Institute, which means 94.5 percent of calories some from other foods and beverages. The two states that tax soft drinks have obesity rates that are among the highest in the nation”. Government should make more emphasis on creating new strategies to implement health and nutrition education, as well as proper dieting and exercise. Portion control and food pyramid are issues that must be addressed especially at early ages.
Therefore, a soda tax is not likely to make much progress in reducing obesity rates in America.

According to the article “Sodas Are Nothing More Than Money Grab”, we’re meant to believe that a sin tax is being implemented for the good of the children and for the betterment of the citizenry’s health”. These taxes are just money grab for the Government trying to find ways to recover from the tough economy that is still affecting the country. No single food beverage is responsible for obesity, yet sodas are being targeted as the problem.
Each person in this country has the freedom to make choices about their lives and therefore about what kind of diet they want to have. Setting taxes on sodas and other sweetened beverages will not make a healthier America, simply because the decision to lead a healthier life is not the Government’s but ours as individuals.

“A Tax to Combat America’s Sugary Diet” by Jane E. Brody
April 6, 2010

“Is a ‘Soda tax’ a good policy to reduce obesity in the U.S.?” by Sandy Douglas, Michael F. Jacobson; For the AJC
April 6, 2010

“Sodas Are Nothing More Than A Money Grab”
March 15, 2010

This is really Disgusting; the reason why I don't eat Fast Food anymore, and all of you should seriously think about that "delicious" Big Mac before you eat it.