New Proposal

Friday, April 4, 2008

ProposalFor my paper I intend on writing about the forms of advertisements. Generally I will focus on the different types of advertisements, the groups that are targeted, and how advertisements affect the decision making process, specifically for kids. I think it's important to address this issue because obesity starts at such an early age, making it almost impossible to correct the situation later in life. The majority of junk food is advertised to attract a younger crowd and that is purely because they don't know the negative effects that come along with eating those unhealthy foods. I will also discuss the importance of education on this matter in schools. Kids are constantly being targeted by the advertisement companies and by natural instinct give into what they are selling. In my paper I will discuss the psychological reasoning behind children choosing the more unhealthy food products over the nutritional ones. The majority of the time the children aren’t choosing food based on taste, but instead how it is being presented to them. A child is more likely to choose the more colorful box with heroic figures on it versus a dull item that contains nutritional value. Later when they have become obese they are targeted by a different group that is advertising diets and exercise plans. It is a vicious circle, almost as if both advertisement groups are working together? The advertisement companies are very adept at attracting a specific audience. Eating unhealthy items wouldn’t become such a habit for people if companies aimed at selling more nutritional items versus unhealthy ones. My audience will be the parents of the children. I hope to persuade the audience to view eating habits that could eventually cause health issues later in life, to be similar to tobacco which also can affect ones health. Once I do that I will be able to pose the idea of censoring the advertisement of unhealthy food items.