The System

     Although most of my readers should know this by now, obesity and other obesity related conditions are becoming a massive epidemic in the United States.  America is reaching a new high in obesity rates; for example, more than one third of adults in the United States are considered obese.  All these staggering numbers and statistics come from a wide range of problems within our country like malnutrition, poverty, and many other complications.  One controversial topic that is arguably part of the problem of obesity is the role of advertisements in our daily life.  Advertisements and commercials are everywhere in the United States now.  Are advertisers to blame for the obesity rates in the United States? Or, do they have a right to promote their product in any way they want? In this post, I will analyze both arguments of this topic, and come to solution of what can be done with advertisements to help lower the rates of obesity in America.

            Before I dive into both arguments, I would like to be known that I am not siding with one side or the other.  I am simply a college student who feels the need to step in and finally put a stop to the real problem at hand, the health of our people.  Like almost all arguments, there will have to be a consensus.  There is no simple answer to our problem, thus we must draw critical points together from both arguments to maximize our results.  The purpose of this post is not to point figures of who is to blame, but to find the best way to lower our obesity rates.

            The first side of the argument that I will be analyzing is the side believing that advertisements play a major role in the epidemic of obesity.  It is easy to blame big advertising corporations like Coca-Cola for the obesity rates because it’s their product that they are advertising that might have lead people to obesity.  Although ads are on all types of social media, to keep the argument nice and simple, we will focus on the role advertisements play on television.  To begin, think of how many TVs you have in your house.  Now, think of how many hours you or someone else spends watching TV a day.  According to the article ObesiTV: How television is influencing the obesity epidemic, ninety nine percent of Americans have a TV in their house.  As well, the average American watches 151 hours of TV a month! “Behavioral studies have found the more food advertisements people see, the more primed they are to want to eat” (ScienceDirect). Now, imagine how many advertisements and commercials are viewed within 151 hours that the average American views a month.  That’s a lot! Ergo, the more advertisements we see, the more we want to eat.  The amount of advertisements alone plays a crucial role within our health.  On top of the number of ads, the actual food or beverage being advertised is not the healthiest choice.  The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, “the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals,” performed an experiment in which they compared the nutritional value of the foods being advertised on television.  According to the results, “a 2,000-calorie diet consisting entirely of advertised foods would contain 25 times the recommended servings of sugars and 20 times the recommended servings of fat, but less than half of the recommended servings of vegetables, dairy, and fruits” (Eat.Right.).  Thus, one can conclude that if we desire to eat a lot of food, due to the amount of advertisements, and that that food we see on TV is not healthy for us, the impact of advertisements will lead to weight gain in people.  Through behavioral studies and experiments, it has been proved that advertisements and commercials by these corporations are part of the problem of high obesity rates today.

            Although the first solution people might have to this problem is to simply prohibit advertisements, it is not the most beneficial or logical solution.  Even though it may seem like advertisements are terrible for humans, they benefit society in other ways.  First, companies have the right to promote their product, and they would be foolish not to advertise it.  The purpose of advertisements is to promote a product.  What is the point of running a food business in which one tells people not to try their product?  There is nothing wrong with the purpose of advertisements.  On top of that, advertising and marketing careers now play a huge role in the business world.  A lot of colleges now offer marketing majors, which will lead people down that successful profession.  Before simply getting rid of ads, one must think of how many marketing jobs would be lost.  One strong point for the argument of advertisers is that the consumers have a choice.  They are the ones putting the food or beverage in the consumer, and the consumers have the ability to reject the product.  For instance, a lot of critics believe that Coca-Cola advertising is the reason for obesity in America, because so many obese people drink coke everyday.  Coca-Cola advertising is not to blame; the ads do not say to drink a Coke three times a day.  Yes, the product might lead to obesity if drank every day, but the ads never say to do that.  So why are they to blame? In conclusion, companies have the right promote their product, and they should be blamed for the obesity rates because they are not the ones putting the product in the consumer.

            Clearly, we are stuck.  Before thinking of giving up, there are problems on both sides of the arguments.  From the consumer’s point of view, as humans, we are naturally inclined to want to eat food that we see on the advertisements.  As well, the food that we see tends to be unhealthy for us.  However, advertisers are not blame either.  The true problem lies within something I like to call “the system.”  The system is that an unhealthy product is advertised, and as natural humans, we want to eat that unhealthy product.  We cannot simply stop advertising, thus we must change the system.  Both parties must change. 

For the consumer, one must be aware and informed on the power that advertisements have on our decision-making.  Although this is starting to become more knowledgeable, people should be educated more about the distinction between healthy and unhealthy foods.  For the advertising companies, government should enforce them to list the nutritional facts on the ads or at least label nutritional warnings like pharmaceutical drugs.  As well, companies should be educated about the impact advertising has on peoples eating and drinking habits.  Nutritionists should be paired with the companies to help promote a healthier products and activities.  With the help of the government, as well as health impacts regarding diet and ads should be educated to all people.  As one can see, it is not so simple to point fingers at who is to blame with obesity and advertising.  In order for us to get the healthiest reaction, we must change the system. 

Work Cited

Boulos, Rebecca, Emily Vikre, Sophie Oppenheimer, Hannah Chang, and Robin Kanarek.

"ObesiTV: How Television Is Influencing the Obesity Epidemic." Science Direct. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Aug. 2012.

Mink, Michael, Alexandra Evans, Charity Moore, Kristine Calderon, and Shannon Deger. "Nutritional Imbalance Endorsed by Televised Food Advertisements." Eat Right. American Die