What would you do if you knew that actually watching an alcohol/fast-food advert on TV could result in opioid use, health issues, or even death? America today revolves around technology, entertainment, and other forms of media. They all have TV commercials. We can see TV commercials for alcohol/fast food, clothing, mobile phones, etc., all over the place. The content of TV commercials has the potential to affect those who watch them. For example, we can see TV commercials for alcohol/fast food everywhere. These TV commercials target people of all ages, from children to the elderly.
Alcohol and fast-food distributors use this to poison the minds of the young. They make the young believe that eating fast food or consuming alcohol can truly bring all of the pleasures portrayed in advertisements. These include beach parties, holidays, and fun at sporting events. TV commercials for alcohol/fast-food chains should be banned. This is because they often portray alcohol/fast food as an enhancement to the kids, tempt them to drink alcohol/fast food, and put their lives at risk.
Why should we ban TV commercials for fast food?
1. Fast Food Advertising raises Childhood Obesity
Fast food advertising and ads aimed specifically at children have increased dramatically since the 1970s. At the same time, the prevalence of overweight and obesity also skyrocketed. The link between increased fast-food ads and childhood obesity is difficult to deny. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly half of all ads for children are food-related. None of these is for fruits, vegetables, or other nutritious choices.
Children watch almost 21 ads every day, with only one public service announcement for healthy eating every two to three days. According to American Psychological Association research, advertisers invest more than $12 billion a year on ads for kids. If these were not particularly effective, the food industry would have made a poor investment.
According to a report, simply banning fast food ads could reduce obesity and overweight by 17%. The reduction in childhood obesity may be enough to support a ban on fast-food ads.
2. Fast food leads to Diabetes and Heart Disease
Aside from the risks to children, there are other health issues for everyone who eats fast food. According to a University of Minnesota report, eating fast food two or more days per week raises the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by an astounding 27 percent. The same study discovered that consuming fast food once a week raised the risk of death from coronary heart disease by 20%. Having two or three fast-food meals a week increases the risk by 50%. If you enjoy eating fast food four or more days a week, your risk of dying from coronary heart disease rises to an alarming 80%.
With fast food eating poses such a significant risk to public health, TV commercials for alcohol/fast-food chains should be banned.
3. Fast Foods and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders
Functional gastrointestinal disorders, including irritable bowel syndrome, chronic idiopathic constipation, and abdominal migraine, are another form of health problem associated with fast food consumption. Research conducted in 2016 by the University of Washington in collaboration with Taiwan’s National Yang-Ming University examined the possibility of fast food causing these disorders.
According to the study, slightly more than 88 percent of adolescents with functional gastrointestinal disorders were frequent fast-food consumers.
These children are also more likely to develop psychiatric problems as adults, such as anxiety. These life-altering long-term consequences are just another reason to ban fast-food ads.
4. Fast Food and Your Dental Health
A fast-food diet is harmful to your oral health in a number of ways. The primary concern for dental health with fast food is the high salt and sugar content. When you eat these foods, the added salts and sugars tend to help in the stickiness of food particles to tooth surfaces.
Food stuck to the teeth causes acids to build on the surface. The buildup of these acids is what causes tooth decay and cavities.
Why should we ban TV commercials for alcohol?
1. Alcohol does Inflammatory damage
The most significant reason for banning alcoholic beverage ads is that alcohol has a significant harmful impact on our health.
The liver is an organ that helps the body break down and eliminate toxic substances, such as alcohol. Long-term alcohol use disrupts this process. It also raises the risk of developing chronic liver inflammation and liver disease. Cirrhosis is the scarring caused by this inflammation. Scar tissue formation destroys the liver. As the liver experiences increasingly damaged, it has a more difficult time removing toxins from the body.
2. It affects the Central Nervous System
Understanding how alcohol affects the central nervous system is one of the simplest ways to understand its effect on your body. One of the first signs that you’ve had too much to drink is slurred expression. Alcohol can impair communication between the brain and the body. Coordination becomes more difficult as a result of this.
Drinking also negatively affects the brain’s ability to create long-term memories. It also affects the ability to think logically and make wise decisions. Frontal lobe damage can occur over time. This part of the brain is in charge of emotional control, short-term memory, and judgment, among other vital roles. That’s why it is important to ban alcohol ads.
3. Digestive system
You can not notice the connection between alcohol consumption and your digestive system at first. Sometimes, the side effects do not appear until the damage has occurred. And the more you drink, the more negative effects you’ll face.
Drinking will damage the tissues in your digestive tract. This makes it difficult for your intestines to digest food and absorb nutrients and vitamins. Malnutrition can occur as a result.
People who drink excessive amounts of alcohol are at risk for cancer. Also, people who consume alcohol regularly are more likely to develop cancer of the mouth, throat, oesophagus, colon, or liver. People who regularly drink and smoke are at a higher risk of developing cancer.
Many people are not persuaded by an explanation of alcoholism to ban alcohol ads. Most people are unaware of how many people are affected by alcoholism and other alcohol-related problems. Many studies have been conducted, and numerous statistics have been collected to show the cruel reality of alcohol-related problems.
Each year, 100,000 people die due to alcohol-related causes in the United States, the world’s third leading cause of preventable death in the country.
About two-thirds of domestic violence and sexual assaults involve alcohol in some form or another. And alcohol is involved in half of all murders in the United States. Underage high school students consume 35% of all wine coolers sold in the United States. On average, a person’s first drink of alcohol begins when they are 13 years old.
Many can argue that family and friends have a greater impact than advertising. The advertisements influence one person, who in turn influences another. This is similar to a chain reaction.
Many people would not be aware of alcohol if it were not for the advertisements. Alcohol ads have a significant effect, both directly and indirectly.
Bottom Line
TV commercials for alcohol/fast food should be banned. The ads promote alcohol/fast food as an enhancement, leading to future health problems for the youth. The next generation seems to be at risk of falling into these traps as well. The media and society should step up and help in banning the ads.
