Regardless of which side of this debate you are on, it can be argued that advertisers have used food almost as a weapon to gain market share for their clients. The war of fighting to get the consumer’s attention to purchase certain types of food has adversely affected many people’s effort to achieve permanent weight loss.
Celebrities like Oprah Winfrey have also made weight loss and how to lose weight a highly marketable issue on her famous talk show. Oprah herself has suffered with the battle of weight loss and has publicly shown how difficult it can be for us to lose weight in the face of the availability of food and the advertising surrounding food. Everyone at some time in his/her life has tried to lose weight and some have been struggling unsuccessfully with weight loss.
Therefore weight loss is not an issue for the rich or poor in our society but it is an issue for everyone concerned about the health, survival and quality of life of the next generation. We have to avoid the blame game and seek to seriously address the issue of obesity, especially childhood obesity. Society needs to make demands on advertisers. Junk food targeting young, impressionable kids needs to be curtailed and avoided altogether.
Parents should be re-educated on the nutritional value of food for growing, young children. While the ultimate goal is to achieve weight loss and prevent obesity, it is more important to teach people how to prepare nutritious foods and snacks from the simple fruit and vegetables that are found in all food stores across America.
Obese people have learned all their bad eating habits from the advertisements that have been forced on them by special interests groups in society. Maybe the time has come for us to get off our butts and do something other than watch TV and it’s proliferation of food advertisements!
