(check the video below to see how food companies aimed at kids using commercials)

junk food commercials aimed at children

Children are always treated as the lucrative potential market for fast food companies. It is said that these companies invest in more than $5 million every day for marketing unhealthy food targeting children.With such efforts, Kids are exposed to approximately more than 10 food commercials per day. Marketing commercials food kids “emphasized everything but the food”: Images of fancy food packaging were shown in 88 percent of kids’ ads versus 23 percent of adult ads.The companies realize that for children, giving out toys or fancy packagings are more appealing and even has a stronger lasting impacts ,since children may get tired of the food while they will never lost interest in the constantly updated toys.Also,Their purposely marketing forces the parent to also become a consumers when they come accompanying their children.

This marketing method should be regarded unethical because it involves in both “ selective marketing targeting vulnerable” and “damaging personal autonomy”: The marketing strategy emphasizing premium like movies or toys lures children to purchase the products and exploit their  lack of capability to realize the marketing strategy underlying the commercials so that  children can’t resist the temptation of the colourful world built with the junk food depicted intentionally in the commercials.The firms realize the weakness of children and then they take advantage of this specific vulnerability; by this token, this manipulation should be classified in “selective marketing targeting vulnerable”. Besides,The firms even deprives their parents of making consuming choices to some extent, since they manipulate the children to push the parents indirectly to walk into their store. The strategy can be considered more evil since junk food contains high sugar and calories and low nutrition values, which will lead to health problems such as obesity,addiction, etc.