New Wendy's Commercial & Food Rewards

I rewarded myself with ice cream when I went up in weights the other day. Does it make a difference if the kid actually achieved something?

That's actually what bothered me the most in the description of this commercial. It's not that they were rewarding with food, it's that they were rewarding a non achievement. I think that sort of action is potentially far more damaging to a growing child's mental state than the act of rewarding actual achievement with food.

i never really had any "food rewards" because id just be looking for constant excuses to reward myself. before cutting back i would just eat whatever whenever i wanted, and now moderation is my friend.

i think any commercials directed at children are pretty devilish and whoever checks over commercials to approve them for tv should be alot stricter with them. the impressionability of children is so large that its really just taking advantage, and parents are getting less and less strict themselves on what children are allowed to do or say, it seems that the kids are running most households nowadays. its comparable to tobacco companies who used to target children for their cigarette commercials honestly, which the goal was to hook them when they are young

First bolded: I don't want some government bureaucrat acting as food morality police for business advertizing. It's a band aid that wouldn't do anything to fix the underlying problem which is knowledge and adherence to nutritional principles (or bad parenting if a parent can't say "no" to their children).

Second bolded: Tobacco targeting children when the substance they are peddling had been proven to be a human carcinogen isn't even in the same ballpark as a Wendy's frosty.

I agree with you Brower47, expecially the part I bolded in your words. Blame the advertising or the company...because parents' can't say no or anything....seems legit.

i never said to blame the advertising company, and any parent who cant say no to their kid is clearly unfit, all i was referring to is that kids are extremely impressionable, if they see a commercial that has some sort of reward system impregnated in it, they are more likely to follow that system than if they had not seen said commercial, no?

comparing it to tobacco was an extreme comparison ill admit, but its not far off

There are only two foods that come close to making you feel as good as an orgasm.


Ice cream.


Bacon.




I think we are done here?

Fair warning - I'm somewhat cynical by nature...

My opinion - anyone who can be manipulated so much by a 30 second advertisement that they KNOW GOING IN is designed to get them to do/not do something probably isn't going to make the best decisions regardless.

I'm all for more honest advertisements, more family friendly tv/music, etc (how very old-fashioned of me); yet I also think people need to stop blaming commercials, TV, video games, movies, music, etc for all the ills of society.

ETA: to directly answer the question - I have no problem with the concept of a "food reward". I often treat my girls to ice cream or a frosty or something. But I also often say "no"...and that is one skill I think some parents today sorely lack.

i never really had any "food rewards" because id just be looking for constant excuses to reward myself. before cutting back i would just eat whatever whenever i wanted, and now moderation is my friend.

i think any commercials directed at children are pretty devilish and whoever checks over commercials to approve them for tv should be alot stricter with them. the impressionability of children is so large that its really just taking advantage, and parents are getting less and less strict themselves on what children are allowed to do or say, it seems that the kids are running most households nowadays. its comparable to tobacco companies who used to target children for their cigarette commercials honestly, which the goal was to hook them when they are young

First bolded: I don't want some government bureaucrat acting as food morality police for business advertizing. It's a band aid that wouldn't do anything to fix the underlying problem which is knowledge and adherence to nutritional principles (or bad parenting if a parent can't say "no" to their children).

Second bolded: Tobacco targeting children when the substance they are peddling had been proven to be a human carcinogen isn't even in the same ballpark as a Wendy's frosty.

I agree with you Brower47, expecially the part I bolded in your words. Blame the advertising or the company...because parents' can't say no or anything....seems legit.

i never said to blame the advertising company, and any parent who cant say no to their kid is clearly unfit, all i was referring to is that kids are extremely impressionable, if they see a commercial that has some sort of reward system impregnated in it, they are more likely to follow that system than if they had not seen said commercial, no?

comparing it to tobacco was an extreme comparison ill admit, but its not far off

The bolded bit seems like a bit of an oxymoron to me.

As for the first part: I saw all kinds of commercials as a kid showing how cool smoking was. It was depicted in movies as a cool thing to do but guess what? All it took was for my parents to explain to me a few times how absolutely stupid it would be to smoke. They explained that movies are not reality long before that and explained that commercials would say or do anything to make a product look more appealing and they made it clear that they were not going to buy me something just because I saw something cool or delicious in a commercial.

Kids don't live in a TV vacuum where the only influence is what they see on it. There are far more powerful influences, parents being a main one, that can override any silly 20 second TV spot.