Fast Food Advertisements Essay

1.Junk food advertising does not force parents to buy the food Just because junk food is advertised does not mean that parents should buy it for their children or give their children the money to buy it. It is important to recognise that parents have the final say, and also are ultimately responsible for what their children eat. We should place greater responsibility on parents, and if we are concerned that they are buying junk food for their children, we should attempt to address that problem. But, this has less to do with junk food advertising and more to do with informing the health decisions of parents. 2.If we apply the principle of individual responsibility, advertising is fine It is important not to hold businesses and advertisers responsible for the choices of individual consumers. If a consumer wants to purchase a good, the supplier should not be blamed for supplying it. The buyer wants to be pulled in by junk-food advertisements, and does not hold back their mind from unhea lthy food. There are ads for health foods, buy consumers don’t want to buy vegetables or fruits, and therefore hold back their mind from buying them. It is solely how to consumers want to react to their own decisions, and has nothing to do with the supplier. If a producer advertises their good, they should not be blamed for the consumer finding their good attractive. There are people who don’t like junk food at all, and they control their minds like that. It is simple how the person controls their mind to think. Just like in movies, or in the real world, there is or always needs to be some components of good and bad. The people themselves decide on which group they want to be in. Sadly though, these days, majority of people decide to be in on junk-food. We must maintain the notion of individual responsibility, or people will start blaming each other for their own bad choices. 3.Parents must talk to their children about health eating habits The truth is that ‘there is certainly a place for junk food in every diet’. Elizabeth Berger, author of â€Å"Raising Kids with Character† says, â€Å"Parents must talk to their children about the healthy amount. In the real world, children will be exposed to all sorts of advertisements and their parents will not always be able to protect them. Therefore, their parents must begin to teach them while they are still children†. 4 .Children have little or no money It is not sensible to aim advertisements at children because they have little or no money, and can’t afford to buy the junk food anyway. Also, by the time children do have enough money, and are able to transport themselves to a fast-food place without their parents, they will have grown older and have the age to take the correct decisions for themselves. Even if they do take the wrong decision, then it is completely their own fault, as they are old enough and responsible enough to make their own decisions. Children that are much younger need their parents for help. Also, when you are growing older with some pocket money, learning to manage money for the correct causes and reasons is a part of growing up. 5.Discipline plays a big part Believe it or not, discipline plays a big part in this whole issue. Fast food advertising has no magical power to create unnatural desires for food. Children who nag are simply badly brought up. Poor parenting and undisciplined children cannot be solved by banning food advertisements during children’s television shows, as children have many other influences which can still stimulate these desires. 6.Children naturally like foods that are rich in fats, proteins and sugar. Their craving is not started off by advertisements. They give them the energy to play energetically and grow healthily. It is true that eating only such foods is bad for people, but this is again a problem of bad parenting rather than the fault of food advertisements. And off course, it advertising junk-food is banned, than children will grow naive, and as they enter into the real world, they will then become inundated with ads, because they will have not learnt the skills of ignoring ads when younger. 7.Fast food advertisements appear not only on TV, but you can also hear them on other sources, such as radios. Say the government does ban fast food advertisements during children’s TV shows. Children also watch many other programmes that adults also enjoy, but these programmes still have fast food ads during them, remember. Does this mean we should extend this ban to all television advertising? And, why stop at television when children are also exposed to radio, cinema, the internet and billboards in the street as well? But, any restrictions will be impossible to enforce, as television is increasingly broadcast by satellite across national borders and cannot be easily controlled – nor can the internet. 8.Banning advertisements is a severe restriction upon freedom of speech Companies should be able to tell the public about any legal products (such as fast-food). Children also have a human right to receive this information from a wide range of sources and make up their own minds about it. They are far from being brainwashed by advertisements, which form only a small part of their experiences; family, friends, school and other television programmes are much more important and all give them alternative views of the world.