unhealthy eating in america

i live in Ohio, and up until a month ago i watched ALOT of tv.. the only liquor ads i have ever seen here since the 70's were for beer, wine coolers or other products with low % of alcohol per volume.

Take liquor out of the equation... when was the last time you saw the Marlboro Man or any other cigarette commercial?

I am not crazy about a Big Brother society either... being forced to wear my seat belt and having to keep my children backwards in the back seat pissed me off. But i have to because of the law, and the law says it's safer.

I brought this up because of the amount of people blaming McDonald's and the like for their weight problem. And although i am sure they will never ban commercials for unhealthy foods, i am sure the tobacco companies thought the same thing.. they would never be banned from commercial tv.

Uhm. I see advertising for almost anything alcohol related all the time in WV. Cigarettes are something that don't advertise too much anymore because of the restrictions on them and such. The companies are doing well without them apparently or they wouldn't be selling them anymore.

How about we stop blaming the things we see on TV and realize, that most of the time it's also because we were in fact, watching the TV for most of the day. It's not like people don't know that this stuff isn't bad for them. If you do, you are just plain ignorant. Plain and simple.

Sorry if I offend anyone, but I myself have been lazy and the past and ate lots of fast food and still partake in the drinking sometimes. I knew it was bad, I just didn't give a rats *kitten* and paid for it. Now, I know better therefor I don't eat that stuff anymore.

In Canada we have commercials for hard liquor. I had no idea that they didn't air those in the states.

There is the Tequilla ad with the guy who was on the Soprano's. Captain Morgan ads are on all of the time too. ????

I don't blame the marketers for people's indiscretions. Cigarette ads were all over the place when I was growing up but I don't smoke and never did. It's all part of this culture that no one wants to admit that they are responsible for their own behavior. I may watch one of these commercials (for me it's the Sonic commercials) and say something looks yummy, but I don't go grab my car keys and go buy it! We're all responsible for our own behavior and should not need the government overstepping their bounds to change us. It's none of their business!

i live in Ohio, and up until a month ago i watched ALOT of tv.. the only liquor ads i have ever seen here since the 70's were for beer, wine coolers or other products with low % of alcohol per volume.

Take liquor out of the equation... when was the last time you saw the Marlboro Man or any other cigarette commercial?

I am not crazy about a Big Brother society either... being forced to wear my seat belt and having to keep my children backwards in the back seat pissed me off. But i have to because of the law, and the law says it's safer.

I brought this up because of the amount of people blaming McDonald's and the like for their weight problem. And although i am sure they will never ban commercials for unhealthy foods, i am sure the tobacco companies thought the same thing.. they would never be banned from commercial tv.

Uhm. I see advertising for almost anything alcohol related all the time in WV. Cigarettes are something that don't advertise too much anymore because of the restrictions on them and such. The companies are doing well without them apparently or they wouldn't be selling them anymore.

How about we stop blaming the things we see on TV and realize, that most of the time it's also because we were in fact, watching the TV for most of the day. It's not like people don't know that this stuff isn't bad for them. If you do, you are just plain ignorant. Plain and simple.

Sorry if I offend anyone, but I myself have been lazy and the past and ate lots of fast food and still partake in the drinking sometimes. I knew it was bad, I just didn't give a rats *kitten* and paid for it. Now, I know better therefor I don't eat that stuff anymore.

I agree with this.

The finger pointing game needs to end. You will always have the power of the word "no." If you don't utilize it, that's your problem. We may have some government restrictions but we still have the ability to make a choice. If you choose a fast food cheeseburger over one you could've grilled yourself then it is all on you. Not your job, not your TV, not the radio or billboards, not your kids, or anything else. You.

Oh and hard liquor ads are still on TV. Captain Morgan has a lot of them. My love of the Captain did not come from his commercials though

I am not crazy about a Big Brother society either... being forced to wear my seat belt and having to keep my children backwards in the back seat pissed me off. But i have to because of the law, and the law says it's safer.

The law says that it is more safe because it is. There are many crash tests and statistics to prove this. Yes, take my word for it because I don't feel like looking for and posting sources.

Here in the UK there is a ban on 'junk food' for kids channels, McDonalds gets round it by advertising their fruit, water and carrot options and the cheese industry are up in arms because it is considered a junk food due to salt content!!

I would much rather my kids had cheese over a happy meal, although I try and teach them everything in moderation or you will end up like mummy

I don't blame the marketing either. It's not a matter of being influenced by commercials. Just because they have a commercial doesn't mean I have to eat it. I see ads for that stuff all the time, and very rarely, if ever, do I go out and eat it or buy the product. And as far as it being marketed towards kids, I don't agree with that, but then again, kids don't have money and they don't go purchase their own food. Its the parents job. I know a lot of parents can't or don't choose to do that, but that is not at the fault of these companies. They make it because it's bought. If it wasn't, they wouldn't make it. Simple as that.

I brought this up because of the amount of people blaming McDonald's and the like for their weight problem. And although i am sure they will never ban commercials for unhealthy foods, i am sure the tobacco companies thought the same thing.. they would never be banned from commercial tv.

Instead of blaming McD's they should only blame themselves for lack of willpower. McD's never made them eat their food, they chose to eat it. People just want to blame others for something they caused.

Agreed. People will either choose to eat healthier or they won't. A commercial on TV really doesn't make that big of a difference in my opinion. Marketing is about getting the name out there, but human beings still have control on if they actually partake or not. It is not the fault of McDonalds that people are getting fat... it's the fault of the people for eating too many calories.

So.. i got to thinking... I am old enough to remember when they were allowed to show cigarette and hard liquor commercials on TV. They banned the TV commercials, but allowed them to keep with print ads, but the main reason being because of the health issue. If the government is so concerned with the obesity crisis in America, how about they ban TV commercials for any food product that gets more than 30% of it's calories from fat?? And for that matter, how about we ban the unhealthy commercials all together? "Good Mood Food", "4th Meal" and the Dove chocolate commercials that show a stressed out mom treating herself to chocolate?

I totally get and agree with what you're saying but it will take a longggg time for that to happen I believe. No McDonald's commercials?? I wish...but I don't think so. Not for a while lol. I saw a McDonald's commercial last night advertising Buy one quarter pounder get one for 1 cent. My heart sank for the millions of probably already obese people who are going to buy and eat two because one is a penny, not thinking about how bad it can be.

But, I don't think liquor commercials in America are banned. I see the ones for the Smirnoff Vodka a lot. Especially the kinda new Mashmellow and Whipped Cream ones!

How about we all take care of ourselves and the government just gets out of the way? You wanna smoke? Smoke. You wanna drink alcohol? Drink alcohol. You wanna eat fast food everyday? Eat fast food everyday. You make a decision and live the consequences. I, for one, do not need my hand held by Big Brother.



Completely agree!!

I think I am going to eat a bunch of fast food and chocolate and have a cigarette and drink until I pass out!

who decides what food is healthy? a vegan may want all meat ads banned because they feel thats unhealthy. someone else may want high carb foods banned. etc...

and liquor commercials may have been banned for a while but they are certainly all over the place now.