Obesity the Grocery Manufacturers of Term Paper

Unhealthy food choices are heavily advertised, and those advertisements are frequently targeted towards children. Moreover, much of today's food marketing is inherently deceptive. Unsophisticated consumers, and most children fall into that category, may make poor food choices, but believe that they are choosing healthy food. For example, many "fruit" snacks do not contain any fruit and are mostly refined sugars and/or high fructose corn syrup, but are marketed in a manner that would lead one to believe that they contain fruit. In fact, the packages of some of these products tout their vitamin content, making them seem even more like a fruit. The crime is not that the manufacturers offer variety to consumers, so that consumers can make educated choices, but that they intentionally market unhealthy foods to consumers, knowing that the majority of consumers are not sufficiently sophisticated or educated to avoid making unhealthy food choices. If manufacturers made it clear that some foods have no positive nutritional value, it would make it easier for consumers to make responsible food choices. Furthermore, the issue is not about whether adults should have the freedom to make individual food choices, but whether today's children should continue to suffer from their parents' inability to make healthy food choices.In that manner, the issue is much like legislating the sale of alcohol; like alcohol, some food choices are relatively harmless in moderation, but have no positive health benefits. However, like alcohol, these same food choices can be deadly, if not taken in moderation. Therefore, it seems irresponsible for the GMA to fight restricting student access to these patently unhealthy food choices.

On the surface, this press release appears to be a step backwards in the fight against obesity. The GMA is fighting an effort that could only have a positive impact on children's health. However, the press release might actually have a positive impact, because it does point out areas where consumers and the community need to make greater efforts. In addition, the press release makes it clear that the GMA is not willing to take steps to reduce childhood obesity, if those steps are equally likely to reduce their profit margins......