Congress ought to place a ban on food advertisments that target children under the age of twelve.

To begin this debate, I put forth the following definitions: Food advertisements: An advertisement of any medium (radio, television, printed ad, etc.) pertaining to or persuading the customer to buy a food product, usually in the form of fast food A ban: An official or legal prohibition I will conduct this argument under the value of utilitarianism- in other words, what does the most good for the most amount of people is the most morally justifiable. In American society, obesity is becoming a bigger problem than we have ever seen before. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, obesity has doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in the past 30 years alone. [1] The US has the highest obesity rate of any industrialized nation in the world. At the same time, we also have the most fast food stores and in essence, the most advertisements for buying food products. [2] McDonald’s, for example, had 40% of all of its ads aimed specifically at kids. [3] A survey done by the European Union (EU) found that 95% of food ads there encouraged kids to eat foods high in sugar, salt, and fat. [4] These are all problems we are facing now as a direct result of the advertisements targeted towards children. But why children? According to Yale Daily News, preschoolers viewed an average of 2.8 fast food ads per day in 2012, while children ages 6 to 11 saw 3.2. [5] Research has shown that children younger than 8 years of age are “cognitively and psychologically defenseless against advertising.” Advertisements including toys and games on televisions are engineered to draw in kids, who are unknowingly falling into this ploy. In one study, the amount of TV viewed per week correlated to requests for specific foods with high caloric intake. [6] So what does all of these facts and figures mean? Well, they prove just how gullible to advertising kids truly are. Because until the brain is fully matured (which, admittedly, happens during different times for everyone), the so-called “logical reasoning” parts of the brain- in other words, the frontal cortex- is still fairly volatile and susceptible to influence from outside sources, whether it be conscious OR subconscious. This means that food advertisements have large influence over the foods kids eat. Pretty obvious, right? But when we look back to the statistic I stated earlier- that 95% of all food ads in Europe encouraged kids to eat foods high in sugar, salt, and fat- we realize just how detrimental this issue is to our society. There’s a reason obesity levels are rising. And the best way to combat it, states Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, is to “ban advertising that preys upon children.” [7] While many may be unsatisfied with this so-called breach of the first amendment, banning food advertisements targeted towards children under the age of twelve would lower the obesity levels in America and subsequently, increase the lifespans and lower diabetes rates. Clearly this would be the most beneficial as well as support healthier lifestyles for American children, making this option the most morally justified. [1] http://www.cdc.gov... [2] http://www.hsph.harvard.edu... , Fast Food Nation [3] http://www.rwjf.org... [4] Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser [5] http://yaledailynews.com... [6] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov... [7] Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser