4 thoughts on “Chapters 7-11: Fat”

1. 2.) To some extent unhealthy foods should be targeted to children, specifically lunchables. With the lunchables there should be healthy options, or healthy snacks within the lunchables. Like instead of candy and cookies there should be fruits or dried fruits if the fruit perishing is an issue. Yes the cheeses, and deli items are processed but from that point it should be the responsibility of the parent to monitor what their children eat. Thus, to some extent unhealthy food should be advertised to kids. More specifically the way in which the product is presented in the commercials should be monitored. As a child I recall commercials for the products advertised and they were rich with exciting and funny fantasies that drove me to want the product even more. The marketing team does a great job with this, but it is in fact the judgement of the parent to decide whether or not they want their children to consume such.

2. 2. Food companies have had a tendency to target children for as long as advertisements have been around. It’s a known fact that kids are gullible. By creating an eye-catching advertisement, food companies gain the attention of kids, who then beg their parents for the products. Kids are not paying attention to the health factors of the food. That’s why I think it is unfair for Lunchables and other unhealthy foods to be advertised to young kids. Moss says on page 186, “The trays (Lunchables) created an entirely new category of food, one that exposed Americans, especially young kids, to the thrills of fast food that heretofore were the purview of restaurant chains like McDonald’s and Burger King.” McDonald’s and Burger King are undeniably bad to eat, and comparing Lunchables to these chains is a turning point. Many parents feed their kids Lunchables everyday for school lunch, for the convenience factor. Now, it is unlikely that a parent would feed their child a Happy Meal from McDonald’s every day, since it is more obvious of how unhealthy that is. Ultimately, it is the parents decision of what they feed their family, but you can imagine the difficulty moms face when their kids beg for the snacks they see on television. When a kid sees a commercial of a student eating a Lunchable at school and being praised for it, the child will want to follow in those footsteps. I feel as though this problem could easily be avoided if food companies just left the decision wholly up to the adults. Children should be left out of the equation. Companies know exactly who they’re trying to sell to when they create ads. With that being said, the advertisements should be adjusted from targeting kids to being factual and mature in order to attract parental attention. To conclude, it’s not only the parents responsibility to make sure their child has a healthy diet. Food companies should be aware and cautious of who their feeding. After all, if they weren’t making the unhealthy foods, children wouldn’t be craving the unhealthy foods.

3. In my opinion, lunchables are great ideas to have has an option for parents to get their children because it provides a quick meal that can fill a child’s stomach. But I do believe that they do not contain healthy choices which is why I would say I am in between. Foods like lunchables seem to only be unhealthy which is why I think that it should not be advertised but the idea of having this meal for a snack or lunch is a good idea. The difference being that it could contain healthier types of food like fruits or vegetables but we know that children do not want any of that. As a result, we now live in a country where the rate of obesity only seems to be increasing especially in children because, like lunchables, there are varied unhealthy foods that seem to get advertised so often, leading to these children wanting these products. We all that children can easily be attracted to a type of food by seeing and hearing how great it is and little by little more children get other children to try these unhealthy foods because they taste so good but affect them so negatively. As a result, I believe that the parent does not have the only responsibility because these companies invest so much money to make advertisements greatly noticed. It is impossible for parents to keep control on everything that is going on in society and so they cannot be blamed for what companies are doing. Children these days use technology so often that all they see are different kinds of advertisements that they cannot be avoided. Companies are as much to blame as the parents about their child’s healthy diet because both should be encouraging children to have healthier eating habits. Overall, there will always be unhealthy food that will be advertised and so it should be up to the individual to make their own choices. And when it comes to be about the children, parents should have to try as much as they can to inform children about healthy foods and how in the future it will positively affect them to become stronger and healthier. Parents need to try to avoid the attraction of the varied healthy foods that are being advertised and think what is best for their families. Companies should think about how much of an affect they are having in the eating habits of people around the country and world so they need to take steps to make a change. Therefore, everyone needs to come together to end the selling of unhealthy foods for their greater benefit.

   1. Exactly Andrea. This is completely a group effort. Parents alone can’t fix their children’s unhealthy diets, but companies ruminating unhealthy foods won’t necessarily fix the problem either. It starts with the companies obviously. We should make our health and our children’s health before convenience and taste.

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