Junk food advertising has a harmful effect on society and should be banned. To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Over the past decades, quick convenient

food

often called fast or

junk

food

,

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has become readily available, leading to serious problems including obesity, heart disease and high blood pressure.Many people hold the view that it is the advertising of

this

food

that is

responsible for these issues, and

therefore

ought to stop. While I do not support a complete ban on

this

form of marketing, I do feel that stricter regulations and greater transparency are needed.

Although

an outright ban on fast

food

promotion may seem appealing, it would not be a sensible move. For starters, companies would suffer huge financial losses if they were unable to promote their products. Magnum Ice Creams,

for instance

, runs TV and billboard campaigns when they launch a new product, and if they were prevented from doing so, far fewer consumers would even know the new treat existed.

This

would inevitably lead to a reduction in revenue, possibly a fall in the company’s stock prices, retrenchments and so on. The consumers have a right to know what is on the market, so, clearly, the solution need not be so drastic. The alternative is to impose stricter laws regarding when and how advertising happens.

This

is particularly important when it comes to children. McDonald’s is just one example of a company that deliberately advertises during children’s shows, and actively seeks to push their marketing into schools and clubs. If the government limited the amount of

junk

food

advertising during typical children’s viewing hours on TV, and

also

banned it inside school gates, the problem of excessive consumption by youngsters could be tackled. Regarding the ad itself, authorities should

also

require that companies are upfront about the health risks of their product. A Coca Cola ad,

for example

, should contain the sugar quantity. Alerting people, especially parents, to the real nutritional value of

junk

foods through honest information in advertising, would form part of a public education program which could have, over time, a significant positive impact on the health of our societies. There is now incontrovertible evidence that eating

junk

food

harms our health. In my view, banning all promotion is an over-reaction, but limiting children’s exposure, and informing consumers of what they are buying are better ways to manage the problem.