Fast food advetisements take over schools

Fast food industries have taken over with advertisement everywhere they can. Why has fast food evolved into one of the most consumed foods? Why is it so popular with children? Is it because of the advertisement posters hanging in their school hallways? Possibly, and because of this it affects the health of the students who go to these school.

Advertisements of fast food restaurants in schools support an unhealthy lifestyle. Allowing posters by Mc Donald’s or Burger King to be put up around the school makes it seem as if the school suggests kids should eat fast food. Yes, fast food is cheaper for a kid who only carries a few dollars around for lunch, but promoting fast food also gives them the impression that it is okay to eat fast food. Having advertisements for fast food restaurants and having the school serve greasy food, isn’t helping the child’s help but affecting it more. Kids consider school their second home because of how much time they spend there, so they should have healthier meals to choose from. Students should be surrounded by positive healthy posters.

School faculties and principals are in charge of what can be posted on school walls and what cannot. Agreeing to have fast food advertisements posted on school walls suggest that it is recommended for students to eat fast food. The schooling system and Board of Education is supposed to influence kids to make healthy and positive choices throughout their lives. Since school is supposed to be an educational environment, schools are sending the wrong idea to children. Children trust the opinions and lessons from both their parents and teachers who try to teach them to enjoy a healthy lifestyle and show they care about what they learn, eat and do, but fast food advertisements are not proving the right message they should be sending. Fast food advertising can have major effects on a childs health. In one article written in 2006 by The Post Standard, it says banning junk food from school isn’t the answer. This article believes that eating better begins at home. Parents should be responsible for what their children eat and should help them choose meals more wisely. If they don’t like what their children are eating in school, they should pack lunch for them or make healthier meals at home. This will influence the child to want to eat better food.

When I was in high school, I realized how unhealthy I was eating. Between my schools being surrounded by fast food restaurants and being filled with vending machines didn’t help me make wise decisions in eating. Since McDonalds was close by, they said that they would deliver to students in the school if they paid over a certain amount. Their advertisement of delivery made it more accessible for students to get fast food quickly, and instead of walking to go by food, they will sit and wait for it to be delivered to them, which also isn’t very healthy. Having options such as delivery by a fast food restaurant is one step before other unhealthy decisions. Fast food advertisements have taken over so much of what we see everyday and affects our thought process. We know it’s not a healthy choice for us to eat but we choose to still eat it because we are sort of hypnotized by the product they are selling to us. We are so used to seeing promotional ads for Mc Donald’s or Burger King that we don’t even bother to think twice if it is a smart choice for us to eat. Students will see the posters everyday whether they choose to or not, and eventually they will want to buy that food. Since there are so many children in schools, about half or more are most likely to eat at a fast food restaurant even though they have a choice of cafeteria food at school.

On the other hand, school is meant to be a place for positive education, not a place for products to be sold. Advertisements are very influential especially on children and fast food companies are smart enough to take advantage of school students knowing that they are the ones who spend most of their money towards their food. Most students are so used to eating food from their school cafeteria that seeing fast food posters makes them want to eat their food even more. This may also change the way students view their school. School is the place for them to know right from wrong but its giving students the choice to eat fast food and not providing them with the education on fast food that they need. Fast food restaurants have tried everything to advertise their product and realized putting posters in schools is one of the best choices.

If advertisements for fast food restaurants are going to be placed in schools, then advertisements for sports or activities should also be posted on school walls. Since children are beginning to be less active and rather play video games than go out and plays basketball or soccer, then more options should be available and noticeable for them. In the book Fast Food Nation, one chapter named “You’re Trusted Friends” by Eric Schlosser says that the typical American child now spends about 21 hours a week watching television. (pg.46) Kids aren’t as active as they used to be which causes them to be lazy out of school. This is where parents should come in and limit the time they spend watching television or using the internet and help their child become more active. Parents know how much television ads, posters and commercials influence their children to want to buy something, so they should take more control.

Prospectus

In this paper, I will discuss the use of antibiotics and steroids and how it affects the way we treat animals and our well being. Also the fact that today’s life span is shorter than previous generations, and one effect of that is due to all the chemicals that are being used to make to preserve and conserve the food that is being imported and exported


The use of antibiotics and steroids in our foods has affected both animals and the people who eat them. Antibiotics have been known to be used for treatment or prevention of bacterial infection. In this case, the food industry has managed to negatively use these drugs to enhance farming and the meat industry that is being consumed by a majority of the population. The use of these drugs are harmful and unethical not only to the animals that are it is being supplied to, and a big problem it leads to is that all of this is being silenced. You would think that the government who is in charge of protecting societies well being would do something to change this but in reality they’re not.
In this paper I will be using research and information from Eric Schlosser, LexisNexis