Obesity Caused by Fast Food Marketing
In "The Big Fat Case Against Big Macs," published in The Washington Post on December of 2002, Ellen Goodman argues that the best lawyers cannot prove that the fast food industry caused the obesity epidemic in its customers, but they may prove that they fooled its customers, especially the young customers. Goodman argues that corporations like McDonalds target young kids by putting toys with their meals to attract them. She also states that they put slogans to make kids think that eating their "Big Kids Meal" will make them grow up faster. The author questions the health consciousness of McDonald 's corporation because why would McDonald 's in France take out an ad telling the parents that kids should eat no more than one hamburger a week when they claim that their food is healthy. Goodman also states that childhood obesity is the result of corporations marketing their products to kids, just like the tobacco industry did. She concludes that this fight with the fast food industry on obesity is just the beginning on the fight with unhealthy foods. The author compares the problem with marketing unhealthy foods to kids to how the tobacco industry use to target kids with their marketing ploy. Although many people feel that childhood obesity starts with the kids overeating, I agree with Goodman that childhood obesity is caused by corporations targeting kids with their marketing because they use toys, slogans and cartoon characters to attract kids to buy their products.
From my experiences of growing up, I remember a lot of commercials of McDonalds. I remember the McDonald 's guy, Ronald McDonald with his white face, big reddish hair, and of course you can 't for get his big red shoes. His character was one that would always make you laugh and put a smile on your face. I would always think growing up that if I go eat at McDonalds a lot that maybe I might have a chance of meeting him. One thing that Goodman talked about was how they would use toys with the
From my experiences of growing up, I remember a lot of commercials of McDonalds. I remember the McDonald 's guy, Ronald McDonald with his white face, big reddish hair, and of course you can 't for get his big red shoes. His character was one that would always make you laugh and put a smile on your face. I would always think growing up that if I go eat at McDonalds a lot that maybe I might have a chance of meeting him. One thing that Goodman talked about was how they would use toys with the
Cited: • Ellen Goodman. "The Big Fat Case Against Big Macs." The Washington Post December 2002. Rpt. In The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing. John D. Ramage, John C. Bean, and June Johnson. Fourth Edition New York: Longman, 2006. 377-378. • Dani Veracity. "Child-centered Marketing Causing Kids to Carry Unhealthy Food Habits Into Adulthood." October 30, 2006. www.NewsTarget.com • Dr. Marion Nestle. "Food Marketing and Childhood Obesity – A Matter of Policy." The New England Journal of Medicine. June 15, 2006. Vol.354:2527-2529. Number-24. http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/354/24/2527