Advertising & Food

Advertising and food seem to go hand in hand; unfortunately it's mostly the fast food or junk/snack food industry that take full advantage of advertisements. When I was a child every weekend I'd get up early and watch my cartoons which were riddled with commercials, many of those being for unhealthy foods.  To me, these commercials were bright and fun and made whatever it was they were advertising to be something I wanted.  Things haven't changed.  Children still watch cartoons and the ads are still designed to appeal to the younger generation.  

With obesity levels rising it's not surprising that advertising is taking a good part of the blame; it is how most people first come into contact with the unhealthy food choices.  The commercials or ads make the food seem delicious and fun and this makes people want to go and eat it.  It's unfortunate that we live in a world now that's run by media; whatever people see or hear or watch from any media source (tv, social medias, magazines) is what people tend to believe or agree with; the healthy food industries have seem to have very little presence in these places.  Admittedly there is a rise in the presence of healthy eating/healthy living choices in some forms of media (I have quite a few Facebook friends who post healthy food ideas/exercise tips) it still doesn't compare to the hold that fast food industries have on people.

I feel like the advertising does carry some of the blame for the weight issues that are rising but on the other hand that's the agencies job.  They are supposed to make their client's food, or whatever it happens to be, be something that the viewer wants or even needs; and in the fast food industry this is clearly being done well.  However, I do also feel that the consumer themselves are also at blame.  In the accessible world we live in today it's easy to do research and find out what is or isn't good for you and how you should be taking care of your body.  The knowledge is out there, people just need to take initiative to find this information and then actually use it.