Fast Food Manipulative Advertising

Words: 492
Pages: 2

The fast food industry has negatively influenced our youth through their manipulative advertisements. When kids see an ad for McDonalds, Burger King, or Taco Bell they always want to go there for one of three reasons. The first reason is the toys inside the meals, the second reason is because they like the mascot in the ad, and the third reason is because some fast food commercials make children think the meals are healthy. There are also a lot more reasons, but my paper is going to focus on these three. The first reason, the toys inside the meals, is the biggest one. According to the website: healthyeating.sfgate.com, “One of the most powerful marketing tools that fast food restaurants use is the promise of a toy with the purchase of any kid’s …show more content…
Every time I saw an ad for McDonalds it always told me the chicken nuggets, which was the only thing I ate at McDonalds as a kid, were 100% white meat and healthy. I can’t believe they thought I would believe them. Now they are saying different things. For example, a happy meal with a juicy grease-filled burger, sugary soda, and deep fried fries now comes with yogurt. By including the yogurt, they not only trick the kids into thinking it’s healthy food, but they also trick the adults into thinking that as long as their kid has the yogurt, the meal is ok. In conclusion, fast food places trick kids by providing toys, catching their attention with a mascot, and including yogurt with the kid’s meals. According to the website www.cdc.gov, “In the past 30 years’ childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents.” If people could just find other ways to feed their kids healthier foods and not give in to them whenever a new toy comes out at McDonalds, I believe we could not only change childhood obesity but we could also end it. This all depends on what parents choose to feed their