IMPORTANCE OF THE RESEARCH
This question is important to look at since fast-food has come to comprise an increasing proportion of Americans’ diet. Food prepared away from home accounted for 32% of the total calories consumed by US adults and children based on studies done from 1994-1996 (Unger et al. 2004:468). This higher calorie and fat consumption among fast-food eaters is a likely contributor to increasing risk of obesity. Healthy People 2010 identified overweight and obesity as 1 of 10 leading health indicators of the United States population and called for a reduction in the proportion of children and adolescents who are overweight and obese (Ogden and Carroll 2010).
I chose to look at advertising because the increased media consumption over the past several decades has had a major influence on youth and adolescents. Despite its worldwide popularity, McDonald’s has been criticized over the years for playing a role in child obesity and for promoting unhealthy eating habits. As a leading member of the fast-food industry, McDonald’s states that they promote the idea of eating McDonald’s as a choice; however, their advertising strategies and promotion of the Happy Meal incentivize children and lure families in. By placing toys in Happy Meals, McDonald’s is teaching children to associate poor nutritional meals with fun, ensuring that they will be happier with a Happy Meal. Whether or not fast-food, specifically McDonald’s, is to blame, child obesity has become a growing epidemic in the United States.
VARIABLES
The independent variable of the study is national obesity rates, looking at the rate fluctuations since the 1960s when McDonald’s started becoming a more widely spread franchise. Child obesity has become an epidemic and major public health concern, leading to many health problems for youths and adolescents. There are many potential causes for child obesity including genetics, environmental and societal factors, culture, and economics, but I will be specifically looking at how eating behaviors and patterns are prevalent factors.
The dependent variable of the study is the representation of children seen throughout McDonald’s advertising. I assessed the frequency and ways in which children are depicted in commercials since the 1960s, examining whether there are consistencies within the way children are shown, determining whether children are the main target audience that McDonald’s is trying to reach.
