Essay 1

Kharielly Gonzalez April 28, 2010

Essay # 1 Eng 101



Companies should stop advertising junk food to children in schools because they are leading kids to an unhealthy lifestyle.

Selling junk food at school isn’t a good idea, especially when kids spend most of their day in school. Schools are not promoting a healthy lifestyle for kids by having vending machines full of junk food in them. Many schools should band bending machines at their schools and promote kids to living healthy by talking to them about the risks they face if they keep eating so much junk food. Schools should be a safe and healthy place for children’s. By banning bending machines schools are giving a positive statement in which they want children to be healthy when at school. Schools should have bending machines with healthy snacks in them such as fruits and UN sugary drinks.

Kids should also do exercise while at school. Gym teachers should make working out fun for kids so kids can be motivated to do exercise and start getting into shape. Fast food advertising should without doubt be excluded from schools. The only reason why schools allow this type of advertising is because most advertising companies provide things to the school. W e aren’t realizing that advertisement has a huge impact on our children and most of the time even us there is something we have to do to protect our children’s health and one of them is banning junk food.

This problem has been taking place for a very long time. On April 22, 1999 the Daily News published an article named “Suit to trash junk food in schools”. The article mentioned that more than half of city schools illegally sell junk food to students; nutrition advocates charged the board of education in a lawsuit. It also mentioned that principals readily admitted that they sell candy from vending machines to raise money for sports and other extras cut from their budgets. Knowing that this is a problem that has been going on for a long time and hasn’t been able to stop is upsetting because in the long run our children are the ones that suffer.

Most advertising companies use cartoons to target kids. Having favorite cartoons such as SpongeBob, Dora the explorer and many other Nickelodeon and Disney cartoons placed on all these junk food lead kids to believe they are healthy or good because their favorite characters are on them. According to an article published on The New York Times in January 12, 2005, some countries have banned advertising and marketing food products to children, but there are no such federal restrictions n the United States.

The article mentions that marketing bombards children not only through television but also in schools, in movies, video games, websites, books, and even in textbooks. Because the government isn’t expected to ban it any time soon, the center for science in the public interest has turned to cajoling instead of demanding some changes. Some countries have imposed stricter nutritional standards. Other countries have gone further. Sweden, Norway, Austria and Luxembourg have all banned television advertising to children.

When I was a little girl and even sometimes at my age now I see a favorite character on something and I automatically want to buy it for me or even my younger siblings. I remember my 5 year old brother one day wanted this candy because it had spider man on it. Advertising this type of way to kids isn’t a good way to do it because advertising companies know that kids will persuade their parents to buy it for them.

One other thing that can be done in order to prevent kids from buying so much junk food in schools is allowing junk food to be sold only on lunch time not after or before lunch. By doing this schools are helping children to eat junk food in a moderate way, meaning not as much as they used to. Another thing we should be thinking about its how to decrease the number of advertising that is done in our children’s schools. In Your trusted friend by Eric Schlosser he mentions how the explosion in children’s advertising has occurred during the 1980s.

So the question is how can something like advertising that is so big not be allowed in public schools? The answer to that question is the principles and the board of education. They can find other ways to raise funds for the schools or to get equipments for their classes, football fields etc. By doing this they give a positive message they can allow other types of advertising in their schools but healthy ones.
The only reason to why fast food advertises to children is because they are easy to control. Children are at risk of getting diabetes because of all these junk foods. These types of advertisements don’t realize the damage they are causing to kids even their own ones all they care about is the money they are making due to all this advertisement.

We should do something about these advertising in schools. We have to start informing our kids when they are young that advertising is a fake way to persuade people to buying their products. Companies only do it for their benefit not for the benefits of others. Fast food advertising should definitely be banned from schools.

Marketing to Children

Marketing to Children
Thesis: Companies seek to advertise to children because they are the easiest target they have.
Body paragraph 1: Selling junk food at school isn’t a good idea; schools are not promoting a healthy lifestyle for kids.

Body paragraph 2: Advertising by using cartoons or favorite children programs on cereal boxes and other junk food products.

Body paragraph 3: Allowing junk food to be sold only on lunch time not after or before lunch time.

Body paragraph 4: Children are at risk of getting diabetes because of all these junk foods.




Selling junk food at school isn’t a good idea, especially when kids spend most of their day in school. schools are not promoting a healthy lifestyle for kids by having vending machines full of junk food in them. Many Schools should band bending machines at their schools and promote kids to living healthy by talking to them about the risks they face if they keep eating so much junk food. School should be a safe place and also a healthy one where children are safe and healthy as well.

Most advertising companies use cartoons to target kids. Having favorite cartoons such as spongebob,dora the explorer and other nickelodeon or Disney cartoons placed on all these junk food lead children to think they are healthy or good because their favorite character is placed on it .Some countries have banned advertising and marketing food products to children even in public schools.

Annotated bibliographies

The Post Standard (Syracuse, NY)
April 5, 2010
Sugar tax is win-win situation
By: Sandra D. lane
Section: opinion; page. A11
New York is facing two crises, a fiscal one and a health one. The much discussed penny-per-ounce “soda tax” under consideration in Albany will help confront both of them by combating childhood obesity while raisin $ 1 billion annually to prevent devastating cuts to health care. Daily per-person soda consumption has almost tripled over the past four decades from calories in the late 1970s, to 190 calories today. Today, obesity is a public health crisis in New York states an incredible 60 percent of adults and one third of children are either overweight or obese. Soda tax will help reduce new Yorkers consumption of exceptionally unhealthy drinks that have been identified as one of the top causes, more so than any other food group of diabetes and obesity.
The New York Times July 15, 2005
Food industry defends marketing to children
By: Melanie Warner
Section: section c; column 2; business/financial desk; media; advertsing; page 5
The Federal State commission’s office discussed world wide a range of issues on marketing food to children. Food companies have often expressed the view that they would be better off regulating themselves than having the government intervene. The chairwoman of the federal trade commission, Deborah Platt majoras, said that having the government ban the marketing of certain types of foods was “neither wise nor viable.” “Under the right circumstances, industry generated action can address problems more quickly, creatively and flexibly than government regulation,” she said. Senator Harkin said the F.T.C (federal trade commission) has authority over ads to adult but not for children.” Food company executives emphasized their efforts to sell healthier food and to provide more education to consumers about healthy eating and regular exercise.
The New York Times January 12, 2005
It’d be easier if SpongeBob were hawking broccoli
By: Marian Burros
Section: section f; column 1; dining in, dining out/style desk; Eating Well; page 5
The Center for Science in Public Interest, a group often critical of the government and the food industry, displayed the packages to show what children are exposed to in a barrage of food marketing. The boxes and containers lined up in a conference room looked like a collection of toys and games, each bearing the likenesses of characters from Shrek to SpongeBob Square pants. The packages contained food: cereals, ofcourse, but also candies, pizza and pancake syrup. Nickelodeon, the children’s cable network and home of spongebob, has been sunning public service announcements to encourage exercise and promote healthful foods.
The New York Times August 12, 1992
Eating Well
By: Marian Burros

Section: section c; page 3; column 1; living desk
The center for science in the public interest the consumer advocacy group in Washington has just released a report on the state of processed foods for children and it doesn’t like what it found. Only seven cereals and one cheese, for example, were included in the top category of foods, those that met all the nutritional and food safety criteria; not one frozen dinner or fast food meal was included in that category. Food safety criteria were also included: no foods could be included among the best if they contained artificial colors, aspartame, caffeine, monosodium glutamate, saccharin, sodium nitrite, sulfites or the antioxidants BHA and BHT. The right thing is to feed children fresh food.
Daily News April 22, 1999
Suit seeks to trash junk food in schools
By Joanne Wasserman
Section: news; page 9
More than half of city schools illegally sell junk food to students, Nutrition advocates charge in a lawsuit filled against the board of education. The group wants the machine removed or a timer placed on them to lock them until after lunchtime. Principles admitted that they sell candy from vending machines to raise money for sports and other extra budgets. Under board of education regulations, junk food such as soda, ices, gums, lollipops etc may not be sold in schools.

Overweight Problem

Today I was reading “The consumer: A republic of fat “by Chevat Richie and Michael Pollan, while reading it I ran into something that really caught my attention. What caught my attention was something that a surgeon general said,”obesity today is officially an epidemic”. The fact that obesity is being compared to an epidemic is a very huge problem because to me it is being said that obesity is an outbreak of disease. Obesity has been a very huge problem in the United States for years and it’s getting to a point where it’s affecting our new generation.

According to the reading “children may turn out to be the first generation of Americans whose life expectancy will actually be shorter than that of their parents,” it is very sad to hear something like that because I believe parents are a very huge influence in their kids life an health and if you are an unhealthy parents there is a 90% chance your child is going to be unhealthy as well. An example I have with that is about my brother. My stepmom is unhealthy and so is my dad, they eat at all hours and don’t really watch what they out in there mouth. My 5 year old brother is adapting to that same habit of eating late and eating a lot of sweets. The other day my stepmom took him for a check up and the doctor told her that he’s at risk of getting diabetes if she doesn’t watch his weight closely. After reading that little passage it really scares me to know that my brother might be one of those children mentioned of living shorter than their parents.

I think it’s about time that Americans realize that obesity is killing us and they should take action and start eating healthy for the sake of their health and their kids health.

Fat or Taxed ?

Is taxing soda a great idea? How many of you really think it would make a change ? well to tell you the truth i personally disagree. i believe that no matter how much tax the government wants to put on soda it isn't going to make a difference. Many of you may ask why i say that ? lets see cigarettes were taxed a few years ago and even after they were taxed people kept buying them. That's going to be the same with soda people know that soda isn't good for them because of the many disease they can get but they still drink it.
According to the magazine Advertising Age"soda,by itself,isn't a silent killer.And soda taxes aren't a miracle cure for anything other than budget gaps ", I believe the government is trying to find something to hold on to in order to get more money in there pockets. America has been going threw obesity for over years and nothing of what they have done has made any difference,people are still doing what they aren't supposed to and many of them are still obese.
According to letter by Charles M slevin " A soda tax wouldn't stop a single child from buying a soda".I agree with slevin i think that no matter what the government tries to do with soda people are still going to buy it.Raising things is just a way to try and scare people from not buying certain items.
Just because we are going threw bad economic times it doesn't mean people aren't going to do whatever it takes from getting or buying what they want. Many of the people that are addicted to drugs or alcohol and don't have money to buy it find a way to do it ,that's the same thing with people that like to drink a lot of soda. The government can try imposing many laws or bringing up tax as much as they want but do you really think people are going to stop buying them? ask your self that little question.