Band 6+: A lot of research has shown that overeating can have a number of negative effects on the body. Some people therefore believe that the advertising of certain foods should be banned in the same way that some countries have banned advertising cigarettes. Do you agree or disagree?

A lot of research has demonstrated that eating big amounts and low quality of food can have significant consequences on the body. Some people argue that promotion of unhealthy food should be prohibited in the same way that some countries have advertised cigarettes as illegal. I completely agree with this statement which will argue that ads of unhealthy food affects especially the young generation and excess of food consumed can cause serious health issues, while, secondly, that replacing this propaganda for good health advice could encourage society to have a better quality of life.

Advertisements of low food quality are prejudicial to all society but the youngest generation is the most vulnerable of this. The reason for that is because food companies oriented this publicity in kids channels due to the fact that they do not have knowledge sufficient to identify if a product is healthy or not. The result of overeating chunk food could cause the appearance of diseases, inclusive in children, such as hypertension, heart problems, skin infections or type 2 diabetes. For instance, It was demonstrated by the World Health Organization that Latin American countries in the last 5 years increased 10 % of children between 5 to 12 years old having pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes. It was recognised that the main reason for this is the high consumption of food rich in sugar, fats and sodium.

On the other hand, multiple communication channels are selecting what to public and what to avoid with respect to food ads. Instead, healthy food options and how to improve community health advice is more often to watch in some channels such as TV, youtube or social media. As a result, the general public feel more encouraged to have a healthy life and if they do not watch unhealthy food advertisements they do not feel a necessity to buy it. In Argentina in 2018, The government banned propaganda of energy drinks in TV channels watched specially for teenagers, almost immediately this product high in sugar and additives decreased sales in the market.

In conclusion, advertisements of unhealthy food affect the society especially children having as a result issues in their health. Governments and food companies could control and improve this with publicity of good quality of food and health advice to motivate the society to improve their wellbeing.