child obesity essay

Childhood Obesity and Marketing

Castonguay, McKinley, and Kunkel (2012) discuss the problem of childhood obesity in relation to marketing in a wide perspective by taking into account how the problem has changed through time. This is significant since it demonstrates how the two’s connection has changed through time and is not current.

It is clear how widespread the problem is from the fact that children aged 6 to 11 have had a sharp rise in weight over the previous three decades (Castonguay, McKinley, & Kunkel, 2012). However, it is clear from reading the text that the author did not consider other elements that have an impact on children’s weight. Research work shows that in as much as children are eating unhealthy foods and that there is possibility marketing can be encouraging this; there are other perspectives such as genetics and culture that need to be addressed. As such, given that the article’s main focus is on the perspective of “healthy” message in food related marketing that targets kids, the other perspectives were ignored.

Health-related Messages in Food Marketing

Castonguay, McKinley & Kunkel do address the issue of health-related messages in food marketing with kids as the target population as comprehensively as possible. They manage to achieve this not only by drawing to attention the possible problem area but by carrying out a research to define the problem. The approach helps the authors to formulate a working thesis and then carry out a study to support the thesis for improved consequences in the future. Therefore, it is agreeable that the authors were in a position to do a comprehensive analysis of the issue. Furthermore, by choosing to implement an interdisciplinary approach, they were in a position to treat the issue in a holistic manner. This is because, through different disciplinary, the authors are able to measure a specific aspect of the issue thus understanding it in a different light. Through the interdisciplinary approach, the entire issue is looked at from different angles all which give the authors the opportunity to treat the issues as holistic as possible.

Research Project on Child Obesity

My research project is based on public health with a specific interest in child obesity in America. From the questions answered above, I will be in a position to gain a detailed sense of how to go about address the area of concern my project wishes to answer. For instance, I will have to look into the issue in a broader context so as to give as much detail as possible although the main focus of the project will be child obesity and self-esteem.

Addressing Other Factors

Children who are obese suffer from diverse psychological problems as a reflection of their weight and this can affect their self-esteem (Strauss, 2007). There is also the need to include other disciplines such as economics and psychology into the research project as Ahmad, Ahmad & Ahmad (2010) explains that child obesity is encouraged with both factors that we have control over and those that we do not. As the paper focuses on self-esteem as a result of obesity, the research project will also aim at comprehensively addressing every other perspective of the issue for a clear understanding. This will also help with formulating recommendations to help solve the issue. Child obesity is a sensitive issue that is influenced by several factors and also leads to severe physical and psychological problems. As such, addressing it to find solutions needs to be a matter of urgency.

References

Ahmad, Q., Ahmad, C. & Ahmad, S. (2010). ”Child Obesity.” Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism.14(1): 19-25. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3063535/

Castonguay, J., McKinley, C. & Kunkel, D. (2012). ”Health-related messages in food advertisements targeting children.” Health Education 113(5): 420-432.

Strauss, R. (2007) ”Childhood Obesity and Self-Esteem.” Pediatrics 105(1). Retrieved from http://www.fitwize4kids.com/fp/marketing/1_Research/Statistics_Trends/ChildhoodObesity_SelfEsteem.pdf