Food Manufacturers and the Fast-Food Industry
Food manufacturers and the fast-food industry have used advertising to further encourage Americans to eat a sweet, fatty, high-calorie diet. Because manu- facturers earn far less money selling healthy foods (such as fruits and vegetables) than by selling highly refined products loaded with fat, sugar, and salt (such as soft drinks and convenience foods), they spend 30 times more money on adver- tising the latter foods. Such advertising has grown increasingly insidious and now pervades every sphere of our society—especially those where children can be found. Soft-drink companies, for example, encourage children to drink soda by subsidizing soda machines in schools and advertising on television, in magazines, on the Internet, and via iPad apps, cell phones, and video games. Consumption of sugar-sweetened soft drinks is directly and substantially related to obesity and diabetes among both adults and children.
Meanwhile, as caloric consumption has increased, physical exercise has de- creased. Because of budget cuts, only around one-third of U.S. states require any time spent in physical education, and many of those have only minimal requirements. And at home, few children these days are allowed to spend their afternoons running free or playing nonorganized sports. Instead, poor children are admonished to stay indoors to stay safe, and more affluent children are shepherded from tutors to classes, to the occasional sports activity. Finally, few children or adults nowadays commute by foot or bicycle to work, play, or shopping, so physical activity is no longer built into most Americans’ daily lives.
