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Zeke Michel
English 1010-016
Dr. Greenwell
November 16, 2014
Elect Ronald McDonald 2016: Who Really Controls Americas Youth?
"During the course of a year, the typical American child watches more than 40,000 TV
commercials. About 20,000 of those ads are for junk food: soft drinks, sweets, breakfast cereals
and fast food. That means American children now see a junk food ad every five minutes while
watching TV - and see about three hours of junk food ads every week." (qtd. in Baker). This
quote came from a group of quotes that were found by Frank W. Baker and all put together.
During one year an American child, on average, sees about 20,000 commercials that promote
junk food. That is a very large amount, its half the amount of commercials that they see each
year. It is almost becoming an epidemic if you will. A plague that slowly spreads across the land,
attempting to wipe out everything in its path. Fast food advertisements are becoming detrimental
to kids and their health. They lure kids in and trap them with their addictive type substances in
their food. Fast food advertisers should be banned from advertising to kids because of the
psychological effects and the health risks.
There are many reasons that fast food advertisements target children. Perhaps one of the
biggest reasons has something to do with the psychology of it all. Children are much more easily
entertained. This makes a child easier to persuade. In turn they have less work to do to hook the
kids to their product. The other problem with the effectiveness of their advertising is that at a
young age kids brains are still forming. This means that if you can stick an addiction into their
heads, then it will most likely stay there for a while. So if you can get them hooked on your

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product you will have a long-term customer. Which is a pretty easy task seeing as kids are so
easily impressed by a clown or a shiny new toy. Using these easy techniques to draw them in,
you easily earn customer for life.
Kids are the target for these fast food companies because they are adopting a technique
that was started out by the tobacco companies called the cradle-to-grave technique. In an effort
to establish cradle-to-grave brand loyalty marketers sell to babies. This is in an effort to hook
them young to ensure customers for life. They often prey on their friendships by encouraging
them to prompt their friends into getting the same new toys as them (Linn). This is a chunk from
a website that is talking about marketers who focus on children on all aspects and how they all
work together and share ideas to market to children more effectively. The example shows us the
thought process of these people, they start by getting the child hooked because they know how
much effect that the child has on the parents spending habits. Why try to persuade the parent
when its so much easier to dangle a shiny object in the kids face and have the kid do all the
work on the parent?
The fast food advertisers dont work on the parents because they are harder to hook in.
Adults are prone to ignoring advertisements through years of practice. They are very used to
letting things go in one ear and out the other due to having children. Not only that, but parents
are often stuck in their ways. Kids are a blank slate that with the right amount of effort you mold
them to what you want them to be. This is why they are targeted, if the parent is set in their ways
and you cant change them then why waste your time and theirs. If they target the kids then the
kids will run to the parents and the kids have so much control over how much money is spent in
the household each year.

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Each year the children of a household influence mass amounts of money spent by the
parents, not including the money they spend on their own. Kids between the ages of 8-12 spend
$30 million of their own money each year, and then influence another $150 million of their
parents money (Lagorio). The marketers know this that is why they target them, not only do
they get the $30 million but they get the other amount as well. More is better so why wouldnt
you take that offer. If they didnt influence that mass amount of money then the parents would
spend that on something that they want or even for more useful items on the kids and the fast
food companies dont want that. The biggest problem with all of this is the psychological effects
that this can have on the kids.
Some of the mental effects that eating a heavy fast food diet is that you could develop
anything from depression to hyperactivity. These mental states are caused by the mixture of
unhealthy fats, preservatives, coloring, and refined carbohydrates. This causes a chemical
imbalance in your brain that leads to all of these side effects. Fast food can cause anxiety in one
of two ways. Fast food can be very limited in omega 3 fatty acids which is the first cause. The
other reason for causing anxiety is that fast food can be very high in refined carbohydrates which
can lead to mass blood sugar fluctuations, and if your blood sugars drop to hypoglycemic levels
it can cause anxiety as well. The artificial colorings and preservatives in high amounts such as in
fast food it can simulate a sugar rush leaving you jittery and restless. Fast food companies have
tried to superficially offer more healthy alternatives to those customers who are catching wind
of this, however they are actually not healthier and in most cases have more sugar than most of
the other options on the menu (Wile),
These harmful effects that are being flaunted in kids faces in colorful packaging is very
dangerous, If these kids have all of these side effects hit them at a young age then they will get

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used to it and never realize that they shouldnt feel this way. Leaving these kids defenseless
against the fast food companies and will forever be trapped. This is not where we want our kids
or we will never get out of that ditch and the fast food companies will control us forever and
we will always be wondering what if. Our kids wont know how to help their kids escape. That is
why we need to do something now to prevent these fast food companies from having such a
strong grip on Americas youth.
However the argument can be made that the parents of these kids should take more
responsibility over their kids and help them make better decision about their diets. The parents
are the ones that are supposed to be raising the child and teaching them the ways of life and how
to be a successful human. So they should be responsible for their kids growing up as fast food
addicts. Because if they didnt enable the child then the child wouldnt be addicted in the first
place. The reason that this argument carries so much weight is because when you really think
about it who controls what goes into the childs mouth, the fast food advertisers or the parents.
The fast food companies cant force a happy meal into a kids mouth the parent puts out money
to get the food (Radford).
This argument is still invalid however because no matter the control that the parents have
or the control that the fast food companies have, the temptation wouldnt be there if it werent for
the advertisements. The temptation is the real problem, kids wouldnt bug the parents near as
much if they werent promised a playground and a toy for going to eat some unhealthy food. The
other problem is that all they have to do is get them in the door and then the chemicals in the
food hook them. If the parent is the only one to blame and chooses to spend the money for this
food then why is it that they have to put so many addictive chemicals in their food? If the
responsibility of the parent play such a big role in whether or not the product is consumed by

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kids, then they shouldnt need to put all the chemicals and the overly fatty substances to make
the kids addicted to their product.
The argument can be made for the fast food companies for sure, but is it valid? Thats the
real question and the answer is no. The kids who are targeted are the ones who are suffering and
something should be done to fix this. Fast food advertisers believe that they are not at fault
because the parents should be more responsible for their childrens diet. However, kids are being
subjected to advertising which makes them want the product and therefore begging the parent for
the product and then becoming addicted to the chemicals in the food. Were relying on the kid
to pester the mom into buying the product rather than going straight to the mom (Qtd. in Media
Smarts). This is a quote found in an article on Media Smarts that was given by Barbara A.
Martino, an advertising executive. This is how they push their products, they rely on pester
power. Its a vicious cycle that needs to end because the chemicals in the products have been
proven to cause depression, anxiety, and hyperactivity, which can all ruin a childs social skills
and make them have a harder time with life. We cannot continue to subject these kids to these
harmful advertising companies. We should ban the advertisement of fast food to children because
of the harmful effects that it can have on the childs physical body and mental being.

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Works Cited
Baker, Frank W. "Food Print Ads- Key Quotes." Food Print Ads- Key Quotes. Frank W. Baker,
2004. Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Radford, Benjamin. "Junk Food Studies Ignore Parent Responsibility: DNews." DNews. N.P., 16
Nov. 2010. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.
Lagorio, Christine. "Resources: Marketing To Kids." CBSNews. CBS
Interactive, 7 May 2007. Web. 17 May 2014.
Linn, Susan. "Marketing to Children Overview." Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood.
CCFC, n.d. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Media Smarts. "How Marketers Target Kids." Media Smarts. Media
Smarts, n.d. Web. 18 May 2014.
Wile, Elise. "Mental Effects of a Fast Food Diet." LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM,
16 Aug. 2013. Web. 04 Dec. 2014.