Wednesday, July 20, 2011

The Burden of Responsibility

According to AdvertisingAge, the leading advertising based online syndicate, the Obama administration is attempting to clamp down on advertisements for unhealthy foods aimed at teenaged demographics. This delicate issue is one all to often revisited. But, who is to blame?

Free speech allows the corporations to express themselves (and their products) and furthermore to attempt to persuade susceptible children. Parents and guardians, as often contended, should bear the responsibility for keeping their kids healthy from sugary, fatty foods. And lastly, the actual kids. They're the innocent ones, right? Although they are the target of the advertisers, are they really responsible for looking out for their own wellbeing? They can't vote, they can't drink, and they are still legal minors. So then, who's looking out for who?



It's a free country, says the junk-food advertisers. Freedom is, after all, based on the principles of self-determination in all aspects of civilization. If one wishes to become fat (or obese), then eat to one's heart's content! The advertisers don't force kids to eat their unhealthy foods, they merely try to persuade and convey information. But, in the end, the advertisers working for the Big Sugar corporations are the ones with the lobbyists. When it comes down to it, big business gets what big business wants.

What do YOU think -- whose responsibility is it to protect children from unhealthy-food advertising?

10 comments:

  1. It is not a free country as long as Corporations can exist. As long as individuals who run businesses can be protected from losses and given unfair advantages based their on corporate status, the average man will be held down.

    of course Obama feels bad about the unhealthy food adverts from corporations, his own organization uses force to help make them rich!

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  2. Companys want to make money, they just want people eat, and don't care if people get fat. The goverment is the one who should stop this, imo.

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  3. Its a hard one to call, everyone is after a quick profit and the corperations control everything it seems! Politicians will use it to win votes from the public while making deals on the side!

    Personally i dont beleive advertising has that big of an impact on my own decisions

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  4. It's a free country until those fat people get fat related health problems and end up in the emergency room or on disability for being so fat, being a drain on our tax dollars. What's so free about that? Eating and being healthy can save this country a lot more money than people would normally think.

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  5. The species is already lost. Spend all your time and money visiting the world. The sights you see will not be available to the next generation, the one that will carry the burden of radiation and bad gaming exposure. FIGHT THE POWAR!

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  6. Everything is about money. :(
    I'd like to do the same as Alexander Supertramp.

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  7. mmm... the picture is making me want crappy food...


    There must be some way to limit it under the argument that advertising techniques exploit some physical weakness. Would it be illegal for a company to put something in the water that made people crave their product? It's the same thing... the brain is as physical as any other part of the body.

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  8. To be honest, I think the kids need to be more educated. Sure we tell them sugar is bad, blah blah but there needs to be some direct correlation between junk food and _bad_ consequences embedded in their minds.

    So yes, I am encouraging reverse brainwashing, this time for the health of our children

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  9. in countrys where there are really many fat people you should forbid it. its like smoking, when you see it you want it, if you dont see it, you dont want to go smoking if you just quit...

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  10. The parents. The government can choose to educate but I think that is as far as it should go.

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