by Bobby Coles

Created on: June 13, 2009   Last Updated: May 09, 2012

Marketing involves figuring out a way to get the most money out of the most people the quickest. Marketing is unethical in its basis. The repercussions and consequences of marketing are not seen through the dollar signs. The fast food industry is rife with child-centred marketing, which bears many negative effects, such as obesity and other eating disorders that may result from a poor diet.

The negative effects of child-centered marketing for fast food lies within its actual lies. The fast food industry preys upon the weak minded, namely children. Fast food chains tend to spruce up the pictures and descriptions of their meals in an attempt to seem a healthy alternative to whatever mom is currently whipping together in the kitchen. Children do not understand that being a part of a healthy meal does not necessarily mean the item they are being show by its lonesome.

By tempting and luring children into fast food restaurants, the pandemic of obesity and other health related issues will soar. The bottom line is that the fast food industry wants to make you a customer for life, and they need to target you while you are still young and vulnerable. Marketers merely want your business, and will stop at nothing to win you over. This includes tricking young children.

Marketing towards children is despicable, yet it is done nearly across the board. Obesity and other health related qualms will continue to rise as this fast food nation continues to eat out, feasting on empty calories. Fast food should only be ingested in moderate dosages, and very infrequently. But fast food chains continue to offer prizes to children in the meals, and to give away promotional cards, such as buy ten and the next one is free. They aren't really free, because you are almost certainly going to pay in the end. This forces people into a dependency of sorts, and the real winners are the fast food chains that have hooked you as a loyal customer.

Fast food companies have often targeted children, since they are the most gullible, and the most influential on the purse strings of an otherwise frugal and wise set of parents. From a business standpoint, child-centered marketing is smart, because it ultimately brings in the revenue, but it does have indelible and negative lasting effects that will cause problems of epidemic proportions down the road. Children who regularly dine on fast food will eventually become lazy and unproductive members of society. Since there is little substance in a fast food

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