No more fast food ads at schools!

Based in the principle of Capitalism, fast food chains are becoming more and more powerful: especially now that they have access to the “last advertising free outpost of the American life”(Schlosser,51) .In fact , the presence of fast food advertising at schools is the result of intensive marketing efforts in order to target children and adolescents , and a silent collaboration between schools and fast foods chains. However, schools are not the right places for fast food ads because such ads disturb students; affect their performance and sabotage parents’ and instructors ‘efforts for healthier foods.

In the recent years, fast food ads are frequent at schools because the food industry in the US has viewed children and adolescents as a major market force. Food marketers are interested in youth as consumers because “they have their own purchasing power, they influence their parents' buying decisions and they are the adult consumers of the future” (Media awareness network). Children and adolescents spend billions of their own dollars annually, influence billions more spent through household food purchases. It is estimated that US adolescents spend $140 billion a year. Children under 12 years of age spend another $25 billion, but may influence another $200 billion of spending per year. Therefore, they become the target of intense and specialized food marketing and advertising efforts. From TV to the internet, it is estimated that over a billion of dollars is spend on children advertising. This budget is probably increasing with the progressive presence of food ads at schools. Just like all roads are good to reach Rome, schools are nowadays part of the “media-saturated environment” (Mary Story and Simone French, the International Journal Of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity).

The presence of fast food advertising at school is the result of a silent collaboration between fast food chains and schools administrations. In fact most ads at schools are promoting companies that have their vending machines, snack bars, or fast food stands in the same school. In a survey done in California, 53%of responding California School Districts reported that their school sold Taco Bell. The corporation between schools and fast food chains is considerably increasing .In fact “in 1990 2% of public schools participating in the national school lunch sold brand name fast foods, by 2003, the number had risen to 65%”(Harris).The frequency of fast foods ads and the extraordinary growth of fast food restaurants at schools is mainly due to the profits schools gain from these companies. Indeed, fast foods chains help school services programs to remain financially stable. Budget shortfalls are forcing school to allow corporations access to students in exchange for badly needed money , and educational materials ”Among districts that have fast foods, 88 % reported using profits to support food service operations. Others said the profits pay for extracurricular activities, athletics, and educational programs” (Bodenhord).The financial profit is actually why school administrations open the doors to fast foods companies , therefore facilitating the corruption of students.

Fast food ads shouldn't be accepted at schools because it can disturb students and therefore affect their grades. Most people admit that attention is the key to a successful academic year. That actually requires a great ability of concentration which itself requires efforts you have to develop in order to forget the external issues(personal problems, personal needs ...).However, the chaos is that schools seem to no more promote concentration by letting fast foods ads access the "last-advertising free outpost of American life.(Schlosser,51). Fast food ads disturb students by taking them from the classroom to the "utopian world", the best imagined place where everything seems perfect. This situation effects student’s performance. Healthy foods affect students’ ability to learn. Researchers from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee found that fast foods reduce students’ performance on math and reading .Dr Kerri Tobin, who carried out the research, said it is found “statically significant relationships between higher than average consumption of fast foods and lowered test scores" (Ka, Fast Foods in California high school). Fast food advertising at school not only affects schools performance but also contradict the perspective of healthier foods.


The presence of fast food ads at school sabotage parents and educators efforts to teach healthy eating habits. Aware of the problems related with junk foods such as iron deficiency, anemia, obesity, eating disorders, and dental caries, schools have recently been “publicly” promoting healthy eating among students. However how can schools pass their message if the presence of fast food ads on campus is alarmingly increasing? There is no doubt that such advertisings contradict the perspective of healthier foods .In fact parents have become more aware of the situation. In a survey done by USA Today/Gallup poll “asking parents to rate school lunches or foods in general, just 21%though that they were very nutritious”( Gallup new service). Foods consumed at schools can’t be healthy if they are still served by the “producers of unhealthy foods”. it doesn’t make sense to talk about healthy foods in a place full of fast food ads.


To conclude it is important to notice how fast food use school administrations to reach children and adolescents. They focus on their profits ignoring the consequences of such acts on children ‘s education and health. Therefore won’t forbidding all collaborations between schools and fast food chains be effective?

outline essay number 1

ESSAY 1 OUTLINE
Introduction

1. The presence of fast food advertising at schools is due to two main reasons.
· The silent corporations between schools and fast food chains.
· Students are now the target of intensive and specialized food marketing and advertising
efforts.
2. Schools are not the appropriate place for fast food advertising.
Conclusion


The presence of fast food advertising at school is the result of a silent corporation
between fast food chains and schools administrations. In fact most ads at schools are
promoting companies that have their vending machines, snack bars, or fast food stands in the
same school. In a survey done in California, 53%of responding California School Districts
reported that their school sold Taco Bell. The corporation between schools and fast food chains is
considerably increasing .In fact “in 1990 2% of public schools participating in the national school
lunch sold brand name fast foods, by 2003, the number had risen to 65%”(Harris).The
frequency of fast foods ads and the extraordinary growth of fast food restaurants at schools is
mainly due to the profits schools gain from these companies. Indeed, fast foods chains help
school services programs to remain financially stable. Budget shortfalls are forcing school to
allow corporations access to students in exchange for badly needed money , and educational
materials ”Among districts that have fast foods, 88 % reported using profits to support food
service operations. Others said the profits pay for extracurricular activities, athletics, and
educational programs” (Bodenhord).The financial profit is actually why school administrations
open the doors to fast foods companies , therefore facilitating the corruption of students.
In the recent years, fast food ads are frequent at schools because the food industry in the US
has viewed children and adolescents as a major market force. Children and adolescents are now
the target of intense and specialized food marketing and advertising efforts. Food marketers are
interested in youth as consumers because “they have their own purchasing power, they
influence their parents' buying decisions and they're the adult consumers of the future”(Media
awareness network).

negative health effects of fast food

SOURCE:http://www.highlighthealth.com/diet-and-nutrition/fast-food-and-liver-damage-its-the-carbs-not-the-fat/

This is a journal of Teresa an editor in the Organic Consumer Association. This article explain how fast food is causing problems for the health Westerners in a number of ways. Firstly,it seems that high levels of fat and sugar are not only unhealthy but addictive,which creates a vicious cycle making it hard for people to choosehealthy food. Secondly, aggressive marketing in fast food restaurants is leading to larger than ever servings and targeting children to set their parents patterns for life. And thirdly, the agricultural, preserving and processing techniques that go toward producing low-quality food for the fast-food market are compromising the health of the consumer even further.It also emphasizes on the fact that how food it is produced and who controls it, are important issues. " The way that it is processed and marketed can have a big
effect on health and economics too."

SOURCE:http://ezinearticles.com/?6-Negative-Effects-Of-Eating-Fast-Food&id=175205

This is an article of Glenn Freiboth giving six negative effects of fast foods.It shows that fast foods have high energy density and defines the concept "high energy density".It resumes results of some research done over the past years.It finalize by showing that fast foods can leads to obesity and heart disease."Fast Food restaurants feed the obesity epidemic by getting people to eat many more calories than they need through persistent advertising."

SOURCE:http://www.ehow.com/facts_5474953_negative-effects-fast-foods.html

This magazine article is written by Amanda Williams. It shows how fast foods affect our health.It focuses on the extra calories , that saturated and trans fats, salt,the lack of vitamines and minerals ,the portion size and the additives.Fast food is lacking in nutritional value, as it is rarely made of fresh fruits, vegetables or whole grains. By consuming fast food, you are missing out on essential vitamins and minerals to keep you healthy.

SOURCE:http://www.moneyinstructor.com/art/fastfooddangers.asp

This is an article that answer to the question of why fast foods are dangerous to the health. It shows that fast foods encourages the bad eating habits by offering at least half of the normal
dietary allowance. The article also gives clear explanations about employment and agricultural implantations in the fast food industry. It shows that they offer abundant employments mainly because working in a fast food does not require a college diploma or reasonable career experience. It conclude by saying that fast food domination has several implications both for the health of individuals and for the health of the entire globe."Another issue in the fast food industry is the health hazards that fast food chains are prone to. A particular hazard is the E-coli bacteria that meat products are susceptible to."

SOURCE: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PictureOfHealth/story?id=4286176&page=1

This is an article from ABC news written by RADHA CHITALE .The article resumes a recent study done by Swedish researchers where 18 healthy, slim teenagers had to be in a fast food diet. Subjects had meals from popular chains twice a day for four week while refraining from exercise. At the end of the experience, subjects had liver damage and gained 16 pounds.The subjects were eating "an outrageously high amount" of calories, said Keith-Thomas Ayoob, associate professor of pediatrics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Ayoob said the calorie intake was almost double the average daily caloric intake of most Americans, which is about 2,700 calories. Beside obesity and type 2 diabets, the swedish study showed that the liver is also at risk when you" roll up to the drive-through "

From a Fat Republic to a Shorter expectancy

In the "Consumer:A Republic Of Fat" Pollan wrote that"today 's childen may turn out to be the first generation of Americans whose life expectancy will actually be shorter than that of their parents."This situation is the consequence of a growing obesity accompany by some health problemes such as stroke and heart disease that are the causes of many death.

The problem of obesity has progressively increased in the last years.Indeed,"16 to 33 percent of children and adolescents are obese.Although rare in the past, obesity is now among the most widespread medical problems affecting children and adolescents living in the United States and other developed countries.Thus, "being overweight during childhood brings with it commodities that will increase the duration of commorbidities in an individual by one to two decades, a factor that can increase the impact of a number of risk factors on adult diseases" (Williams &Deckelbaum,Nature)

Obesity with its several effects on a children's life, increases their risk of many health problems that may affect the children's longevity."The presence of child obesity results in higher rates of high blood pressure"(Falkner ,Aha Journal)which is a major risk factor for stroke and heart attack. Heart diseases are the number one killer in the U.S. and also major causes of disability."Besides an altered metabolic profile, a variety of adaptations in cardiac structure and function occur in the individual as adipose tissue accumulates in excess amounts, even in the absence of comorbidities"(Robertson,113).Hence, obesity may affect the heart through its influence on known risk factors such as hypertension, glucose intolerance.On the whole,obesity predispose to or is just associated with numerous cardiac complications such as coronary heart disease, heart failure, and sudden death because of their impact on the cardiovascular system. By the same time obesity can also provoke a stroke that is a brain attack.Just like a heart attack , a stroke is a medical emergency that when neglected causes death.Actually,"stroke is the third common cause of death(after heart disease and cancer)"(Maris,1).Obesity leads to a stroke when the BMI (Body Mass Index) is so high that a blood vessel clogged.

When "three of every five Americans are overweight;one of every five is obese"(Pollan,102) it is natural to predict that "today's children may turn out to be the first generation of Americans whose life expectancy will actually be shorter than that of their parents"(Pollan,102).

"WORK CITED"
Williams, Deckelbaum. "Obesity Reseach." Science-Busines and Exchange Mar. 2010. Web.
Ferry, Robert Jr. "Obesity in Children." EMedecineHealth 14 Apr. 2010. Web.

Toast to the taxes on sugary beverages!!

In association-sponsored commercials on television and radio, homemakers spout the spurious agument that a tax on sugary drinks would make it more difficult for them to feed their families .However is soda essential in our daily life?Or do we prefer the instant effects of a cold coke to a permanently healthy body.To improve the health of its residents and its coffers the New York State is considering an excise tax of about one penny per once on high-calorie sweetened beverages.

A number of scientific studies have found that the amount of sugar we consume is a major factoron how big Americans have become .In the last Half century , consumption sugar by the average of American has increased by more than 24 pounds a year,expanding waistlines and crowding out more nuitritious foods. Furthermore, the studies indicate that the main dietary culprit for both the increase in sugar and the weight of Americans has been the ever-growing consumption of sugary drinks,especially soda.These soft drinks contribute 7 percent of the calories Americans consume, making them the leading source of added sugar and the single

largest source of caloriesin our diet. "Soft drinks are nutritionally worthless…[and] are directly related to gain weight because beverages are more conducive to weight gain than solid foods"said Michael Jacobson of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

In the New York Times of April 07th is written that a team of prominent doctors, scientists and policy makers say it could be a powerful weapon in efforts to reduce obesity ,in the same way that cigarette taxes have helped curb smoking.The group, which includes the New York City Health commissioner , Thomas Farley, and Joseph W. Thompson, Arkansas surgeon general, estimates that a tax of a penny /once on sugary beverages would raise $14.9 billion in its first year , which could be spent on health care initiatives. The tax would apply to soft drinks, energy drinks, sports beverages and many juices and iced teas — but not sugar-free diet drinks.

The tax by itself leads to a healthier population and a more powerful economie so why not?