Example of scholarly work

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COM 324 Critical Thinking and Ethics: Assignment Four
Following the American Psychological Association's Guidelines
Nick Cesena
National University

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Introduction
This document will focus on, whether or not, marketing fast food products to children is
responsible for the increase in childhood obesity faced by many young Americans. This paper
will focus solely on how this issue has affected McDonalds. In addition, this document will
explore how many people are affected by this issue, and the potential repercussions they face.
Also discussed are both the proponents and oppositions points of view regarding the issue. The
ethical ramifications, and the premise of the argument and various types of supporting evidence
surrounding the issue will also be presented. Lastly this document will give my personal opinion
regarding the issue at hand.
In order to begin to understand this issue, it is important to know why it is controversial.
The fuel that feeds this fire, is that there are factual evidence which prove child obesity has
significantly increased. The Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, supports this claim by
stating, "Childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and quadrupled in adolescents in
the past 30 years." This controversy surrounding the issue, is whether or not marketers are
infringing upon the health of young adolescents by advertising fast food products directly toward
them. What makes this issue important is that solving the childhood obesity epidemic is a major
social issued face by the American people that has yet to be resolved.
Inquiry
Demographics drawn from childstats.gov 2016 show that there are approximately 73.7
million children ages 0-17 currently in the united states. This means that the number of people
potentially affected by this issue is roughly 73.7 million. According to Huget 2011, "In the
United States, there are about 220 million Happy Meals sold each year, which is about 602,000
Happy Meals per day." After viewing McDonalds menu, it demonstrates that Happy Meals can

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cost either $3.29 or $2.49. This means that the amount of money involved annually is roughly
638,000,000 million dollars.
The greatest supporter of the notion that, marketers should be held responsible for largely
contributing to childhood obesity, by advertising fast food products to kids, is the advocacy
group known as, Corporate Accountability International. This group has aggressively fought
McDonalds about how it markets its product to appeals towards young children. Corporate
Accountability International claims that, Ronald McDonald is to blame, and calls for the firm to
retire him permanently. Corporate Accountability International has created a web page dedicated
to abolishing Ronald McDonald, the website is called, retireronald.org. Here they claim that,
"For decades, the corporation has used Ronald McDonald, its corporate mascot, to hook kids on
its junk food brand and make them customers for life, driving an epidemic of obesity and type-2
diabetes." Dr. Rothschild 2016 strongly supports Corporate Accountability Internationals stance
on this issue by claiming, "Stop making the next generation sick -- retire Ronald and the rest of
your junk-food marketing to kids,"
Those who oppose the idea that marketers should be held responsible for contributing to
childhood obesity are primarily business firms that offer consumable products aimed at children.
The CEO of McDonalds Jim Skinner 2016, has openly stated, when asked about the issue that,
"This is about choice, this is about personal, individual right to choose in the society we live in.
That's where we play, that's where you play, and we have every right to do so." Ellis 2016 has a
different slightly different approach to this argument, she claims that, "We’re doing this to
ourselves. Recess times are gone at school. Kids are sitting at home to watch TV or play video
games instead of going outside to play. People are working sedentary jobs and not getting up to

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move around. Until we become the change we want to see in this world and with our weight, the
childhood obesity problem will continue to exist."
Premise
In this instance, the premise of the argument is, because childhood obesity is increasing,
and because McDonalds is a fast food corporation that markets its product to children, it must be
true, that they are largely responsible for contributing to this epidemic.
Supporting Evidence
There are significant amounts of evidence which prove McDonalds does in fact market
its products to kids. Ronald McDonald is the firms mascot who is intended to appeal toward
children. In addition, at several locations across the U.S. the firm creates an atmosphere which
caters to children by having outdoor play places. These places are strictly intended to attract
children, and the firm openly admits that they are intended for children ages 3-12.
Evidence drawn from stateofobesity.org demonstrate that, technology is partly
responsible for the increase rate of obesity. stateofobesity.org shows that, High school students
are spending more recreational time on computers, watching less television, and struggling to get
enough physical activity, according to the most recent Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System
(YRBSS) report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Data drawn from
2015 reveals that among U.S. high school students, 41.7 percent used a computer three or more
hours a day for fun outside of school work, up from 41.3 percent in 2013, and 31.1 percent in
2011."
Also worth noting, are factual evidence drawn from a study done by UCSD health
professional which demonstrate that Childhood obesity can have a harmful effect on the body in
a variety of ways. UCSD 2016 states that, "Obese children are more likely to have:

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High blood pressure and high cholesterol, which are risk factors for cardiovascular
disease (CVD). In one study, 70 percent of obese children had at least one CVD risk factor,
while 39 percent had two or more.
 Increased risk of impaired glucose tolerance, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.
 Breathing problems, such as sleep apnea and asthma
 Joint problems and musculoskeletal discomfort
 Fatty liver disease, gallstones and gastro-esophageal reflux (i.e., heartburn).
 Obese children and adolescents have a greater risk of social and psychological problems,
such as discrimination and poor self-esteem, which can continue into adulthood.
Additional evidence show that parents in the U.S. are fully responsible for their children
until they turn 18. Other factual evidence show that, the average age for a minor to hold a job in
the U.S., is 14, while the average legal age for a minor to begging driving is 16. This means that
any child under the age of 16, would have a considerably difficult time eating McDonalds
regularly without a parent or guardian accompanying them. In addition, any child under the age
of 14 would have a difficult time paying for a meal without the assistance of a parent or guardian
to do it for them. There are also strong evidence given under the law which demonstrate that
children 0-13 have no reasonable way to acquire McDonald or other fast food on their own will.
This means they are strictly dependant on their parent or guardian when it comes to the
nutritional content of their food.
Fitzgerald 2014 claims that, "Millennials are spending as many as 18 hours a day
skimming the Web, watching TV, texting, playing videogames and using social media, among
other activities." He further explains that, the Millennial generation spends a significant amount
of their time "plugged in" compared to any other generations before them. According to The

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Center For Disease Control and Prevention, "The percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the
United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the
percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21%
over the same period." What is interesting to note about this, is that 1980 is the first year of the
millennial generation, which according to the statics above, is where the beginning of the
childhood obesity epidemic made its first mark. Therefore, the evidence here, could suggest that
perhaps technology is contributing to this issue as well, especially because of the fact that
millennials are spending a significant amount of their free time using digital media devices,
which typically don't contribute to physical activity. Traditionally digital media devices are
enjoyed sitting down.
Lastly, when looking though McDonalds nutritional information, there are evidence
which show that McDonalds offers products very low in caloric content, and others that are
extremely high in caloric content, giving customers a wide range of options. However, there are
also factual evidence which suggest that Happy Meals are the most desirable item on the menu
for children because they include a toy. On McDonalds website, the average content of calories
in a happy meal is 690. According to kidshealth.org 2016, "children should consume 1600 to
2200 calories per day." This means that even if children had a Happy Meal for breakfast, lunch,
and dinner, they would be within reason of a healthy diet based on caloric content. Children who
had a happy meal three times a day would consume 2070 calories, falling just below the
maximum caloric count recommended by health professional.
Ethical Ramifications
McDonalds has faced almost no ethical ramifications for marketing its products toward
children. Ronald McDonald still exits, and the firm has faced no legal repercussions as a result of

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its marketing tactics. The only ramifications the firm has faced based on this issue, is bad
publicity. To diffuse the negative publicity, McDonalds has added items with low caloric content
to its menu such as salads, claiming that this creates healthier options for its consumers.
Personal Judgment
My personal judgment of this issue is that, marketers hold a minuscule amount of
responsibility, when marketing fast food products to children. One that is nowhere near within
reason, of what the opposition is trying to claim. I believe, that the side that claims, the increase
in childhood obesity is the result of marketers marketing fast food to children, has committed the
post hoc fallacy of reasoning. Especially when you look at the facts under the law, it is clear, that
children have no reasonable way to support a continuous unhealthy diet without their parent or
guardian exclusively contributing to it. Additionally, what is flawed about the argument blaming
marketers, is that it perpetuates the idea that people should not have to take responsibility for
their own actions. If a court were to actually uphold a case where marketers were held
responsible for childhood obesity, it could create a detrimental precedent and spark an enormous
litigation nightmare. If a case like this were to pass, technology giants like Apple, Microsoft,
Nintendo and so on, would be significantly threatened, especially because of the outstanding
evidence that show that millennials spend the majority of their free time using devices created by
these companies. Therefore, if children are using their devices instead of exercising, it could
easily be argued, on a legal platform, that they are contributing to childhood obesity too because
their devices encourage children to be lazy. The greatest flaw with this argument, is that it calls
for third parties to be responsible for the failed actions of parents. No business or corporate entity
assumes the same amount of personal responsibility a parent does to their own child.

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To give my closing thoughts on this issue, I will cite what constitutes child abuse,
according to childhelp.org 2016, "Child abuse is when a parent or caregiver, whether through
action or failing to act, causes injury, death, emotional harm or risk of serious harm to a child.
There are many forms of child maltreatment, including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse,
exploitation and emotional abuse." Here, there is a great case to be made, that parents who allow
their children to become obese, are actually committing child abuse. Because obesity posses risk
of serious harm such as diabetes, failure to act in providing a child with appropriate nutrition is
dangerous, posing life altering threats, and some which can lead to death. Emotional harm could
also ensue from obesity, especially because obesity has been proven to be devastating to self-
esteem. It is my opinion, that no child should have to bear the burden of obesity, and any parent
that allows their child to become obese has committed child abuse on multiple standing levels.
The only impactful way to end the childhood obesity epidemic is to place the
responsibility of the health of each child on its parents or legal guardians. Failure to raise a child
responsibly should be viewed as child abuse, and parents should face appropriate legal
ramifications as a result. If parents faced legal action, with the potential of losing custody of a
child because they allowed it to become obese, it is my believe that this would cause parents to
act more responsibly, ultimately putting a dagger in the heart of the childhood obesity epidemic.

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References
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Childhelp. What is child abuse. Retrieved December 19, 2016, from
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