Public Health in Oregon - Join The Conversation

Do you really think that we’re going towards a healthier future ? I just hope that in the future we won’t feed our babies with McDonald’s and Pepsi instead of [url=“http://www.storebrandformula.com
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I wrote the following post as part of a Portland State University exercise:

“A Crossroads for Food”
  “The food industry is on the defensive, hit hard by nutrition groups and public health professionals, the press, parent groups, child advocacy organizations, and state and national legislators are sponsoring bills that could have a powerful impact on business. Popular books like Fast Food Nation (Schlosser 2001) and movies like Supersize Me have sensitized the public to industry practices. In turn, the industry has had to react to claims that it seduces children into a lifestyle of unhealthy eating, infiltrates schools, buys loyalty from scientists, and pressures administration officials into accepting weak and ineffective nutrition policies” (Brownell and Horgen 2004; Nestle 2002).
Excerpt from: The Perils of Ignoring History: Big Tobacco Played Dirty and Millions Died. How Similar Is Big Food?

  This quote ties in with what Peter Jennings had to say in his ABC documentary “How to Get Fat Without Really Trying.” In his report Jennings stated that, “the food industry as well as the Government was at fault” for the obesity problem that America is facing. He called to attention the food industries marketing schemes that specifically target “young children into a lifestyle of unhealthy eating” (The Perils of Ignoring History). Jennings discussed the targeting of children by the food industry with Paul Kurnit in his interview and addressed the “estimated 12 billion advertising dollars that specifically targeted children in 2003. Kurnit is an advertising executive who specializes in marketing to children and told Jennings that kids are Big Business and there is no question about that!” I went to Paul Kurnit’s website “KidShop and saw that it targets a marketing demographic for children from toddlers, ages 0-2 and all the way up to teens, ages 16-18” (KidShopBiz.com).  His website “spans every youth product category from packaged goods to entertainment, education to pro social and across all media.” In his documentary Jennings also discussed how other nations like “Italy prohibit all adds on cartoon shows, how Australia does not allow advertising during TV programs for preschoolers, and that Norway & Sweden prohibit all television advertising for children under 12. However in the United States there are no laws whatsoever prohibiting the food companies from advertising any food to children of any age. This leaves kids in America as fair game for marketing which is feeding an epidemic of childhood obesity.” Jennings stated that “children’s diets are clearly influenced by all this advertising and that 15% of all children between the ages 6 to19 are overweight or obese, resulting in many children already showing signs of serious diseases like type two diabetes which is consequently caused by being severely overweight!” It is time for our government leaders and policy makers to intervene and do something about this obesity epidemic that is plaguing our nations youth through “Big Food’s” unchecked target marketing!

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